The Saskura Saga, Volume 1: Duelist Kingdom
by talesofthepast
Summary: Adding a new character to the Yu-Gi-Oh series. Saskura was abandoned on Ryou Bakura's doorstep of when she was ten, remembering only her age and name. Sass heads back to Domino City, seeking answers and, secretly, a place to belong... ON HIATUS FOR NOW
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The storm outside continuously attempted to disturb the tranquillity of the small two-storey townhouse. The outside darkness constant efforts to leak inside the brightly- lit household were all in vain. Inside the house was a scene that reflected its friendly, cozy exterior. A brown-haired man with a professor's haircut and thin-rimmed glasses sat in an over-whelming yet comfortable armchair. In his lap, open to the last page, was his favourite novel, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. He read it aloud in his firm yet calming voice to the young boy who sat enthralled on the rug carpet, hanging onto every word that his father said.

"_**I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so, the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed me, I saw no shadow of another parting for her. **_The End" the man gently closed the novel and relaxed back in his chair with a sigh, "How did you enjoy that, Ryou?"

"It was wonderful, father" the young boy rocked back and forth on the carpet, brimming with enthusiasm, "Can you read me another story? Please?"

"But, my son, I just finished reading the last three chapters to you" his father replied, wearily, "How about you read a story to me?"

"Can I tell you the story I made up in English yesterday?" Ryou's eyes lit up like Christmas lights at this golden opportunity

"Even better, Ryou" his father smiled as he watched his son leap to his feet and begin pacing back and forth. Ryou thought intently on how to begin his dark tale when inspiration struck him. He froze and then looked back at his father, beginning to speak in his darkest voice.

"_**It was a dark, thunderous night, much like the one we experience now, when the boy was at home alone. It had taken him much bargaining, constant pleading and a bribe of a week's worth of house chores, but it was all worth it. While his parents were in London watching 'Swan Lake', he was at complete peace, listening to the soothing sounds of the storm raging outside while he relaxed in his expensive leather armchair…"**_

His father leaned forward, listening intently to his son as Ryou really threw himself into the atmosphere of his tale. His voice grew darker with every word and his actions flowed slowly and smoothly to the eerie ambience of the story.

"_**He was accustomed to the sounds of a thunderstorm quite well. The repetitive hammering of the rain against the concrete, the gale-like roar of the wind that swirled the rain around the house like a cyclone, the suspenseful silence between each blinding flash of lightning and the deafening crack-and-boom of thunder which echoed across the city…"**_

As if on cue, each sound described occurred as Ryou spoke. His father calmly noticed these coincidences but Ryou continued, too immersed in his tale to observe.

"_**However, his ears became aware of a new sound, one rarely heard in turbulent weather such as this. The screeching of brakes and whooshing of water as a car came to a halt. It sounded almost like it was parked just outside the house…"**_

Suddenly, both Ryou and his father became aware of a new sound from outside. The screeching of brakes and the whooshing of water as a car speeding on a wet road came to a halt. Ryou's eyes widened as his father looked at the covered front window facing the street outside, curiosity etched in every wrinkle on his face. It came from just outside the house!

"Ryou…" the father said calmly as he slowly got out of his chair, "continue with your story"

Ryou gulped, his eyes radiating terror, but he continued, _**"The boy's curiosity was aroused, so he decided to investigate. He got out of the armchair and slowly walked towards the front window. He gently drew back the red-velvet curtains to look outside…"**_

As Ryou spoke, his father drew back a fraction of the curtain and peeked outside. It was lit all around by street lights but the torrential rain blurred his vision. He could just barely make out the outline of a large black van right across the road. There were some shadows around it, but the rain obscured them too.

"… _**The street was dimly lit, which wasn't helped by the constant downpour" **_Ryou tried in vain to control the shaking of his voice, _**"However, if he squinted hard enough, he thought he could see the outline of a large, black 4WD sitting on the other side of the street. But he turned away from the window as he heard a new sound…"**_

Ryou froze. His father turned and looked back at him as a new sound reached their ears. It was a hurried tapping, which grew louder as it headed towards them.

"_**Running footsteps" **_Ryou's voice was barely more than a whisper. He hurried over to his father and wrapped his arms around his waist. Short for an eleven-year-old, he could only reach that high. He buried his head in his father's leg, too terrified to say another word, while his father stroked his hair.

"Ryou, tell me what the boy heard next?" his father attempted to calm down his scared son.

Ryou didn't speak for a moment, but then slowly answered his father, _**"The ringing of a doorbell…"**_

Right on cue, the ding-dong of the doorbell echoed down the hallway into the living room. Ryou's nail dung deeper into his father's leg, but he just calmly patted the frightened child's head.

"It's alright, my son. Let us find out what awaits us"

With that, the man pulled his leg out of Ryou's iron-clad grip and headed confidently down the hallway to the front door. Ryou was hesitant at first, scared of what they would find, but realised that it was scarier being alone. He cautiously began following his father, coming to a halt behind him as he opened the front door. Ryou peeked around him to see a large, black van rev its engine across the street before speeding down the road, water spraying in its tracks.

"Oh my Lord"

Ryou looked up his father and followed his shocked downwards gaze, the first drastic change of emotion that whole night. There was a large black bundle on the front doorstep, wrapped in a plastic garbage bag. However, the top of it had unfolded in the wind and rain, revealing the face of a young girl, no more than nine or ten. Her long dark blue hair was plastered to her face. In the corner of her forehead was a small cut, which gently leaked blood down the side of her face. She was completely unconscious.

"Oh my…" Ryou ran forward and shook her, "Hello? Hello? Are you OK?"

The girl slightly stirred. Her eyes opened slightly, in little slits, and she looked up at them, "W-w-who are you? W-where am I?"

"You're safe. Just tell me, who are you?" Ryou asked her

The girl concentrated hard, as if she was trying to remember, before finally saying, "Sass… Saskura. I'm Saskura. I'm ten"

"What is your last name, Saskura?" Ryou's father crouched down next to Ryou.

"I-I-I don't know"

With that, Saskura lost consciousness again. Ryou watched as his father swiftly and suddenly scooped the girl up in his arms, bag and all, and turned around, heading back inside.

"Come, Ryou" he called back to his son, "She needs rest"

Ryou looked back at the step where they found her and saw something glint in the rain. Ryou leaned forward and grabbed a silver chain attached to a large oval locket. The clasp was broken, like someone had tried to yank it off. Ryou inspected the locket more closely. It had a heart engraved on the cover, bordered by two blossoming roses. In the centre of the heart, written in cursive calligraphy, was two initials.

S.K

'_S.K?' _Ryou thought. He attempted to open the locket, but it remained unyielding to his forces. Turning it over, he found a tiny keyhole on the right-hand side. Ryou glanced around the wet top step but saw no sign of any sort of key.

"Ryou!" his father's booming voice echoed down the hallway.

"Coming!" Ryou stuffed the locket quickly in his pyjama pocket and hurried inside, locking the door behind him. Little did he know that locket would be the catalyst for Saskura's journey which eventually leads her to the one boy that could unlock all the answers…


	2. Flight to Domino City

**Thank you to all who have reviewed and/or read my story. Be paitent for updates. I'll be able to heaps during my holidays but during the rest of the year, it'll take longer (Blame my parents)**

* * *

**Flight to Domino City**

_"Attention, passengers, Domino City is now in sight. We will be landing in approximately one hour. Thank you"_

Sass looked up at the flight attendant with bored eyes. She had shocking pink lipstick, heavily-applied purple eyeshadow and teeth so white, her dentist would be blinded by the light reflecting off it. Sass half-grinned smugly to herself as she watched the attendant smile friendly to the people at the front. Her ridiculously fake tan made her look like a pumpkin in a uniform. Distracting herself from the pathetic swoon-fest down front as the group of middle-aged balding men tried to chat up Carrot Skin, Sass glanced out the port window right next to her. The clouds below swirled past the window, over the deep blue ocean. Sass watched the water in its waves and churns as the plane zoomed overhead. She sighed.

_'Oh, Bakura... I wish you could be here'_, Sass's thoughts drifted to her adoptive brother. His real name was Ryou, but it didn't seem right to her. He grew used to the name and always looked at her strangely if she ever called him Ryou. But then a feeling of anger replaced her feeling of homesickness. Bakura was the reason she was on this flight. The entire reason that all this began...

* * *

_"Hey, Bakura, wanna play some Duel Monsters?" Sass called out to her brother as she hurried up the staircase, brimming with excitement. He had only gotten home from Eton yesterday, but she already had heaps of activities she wanted to play with him. She couldn't really be blamed. She hadn't seen Bakura since Christmas._

_"Not at the moment, Saskura. I'll be down soon" Bakura's gentle voice called back to her. Sass paused. He had called her 'Saskura' and his British accent, adopted from spending four years in Eton, was really strong. He was writing to Amane._

_Sass sat down at the top of the staircase and sighed sadly. Amane was Bakura's real little sister, who had died in a car accident when she was six. She was bicycling home from the park, Bakura following her. But there was a particularly sharp turn at the end of the street. She took and rolled right into the path of an oncoming truck. She didn't even make it to the hospital. Ever since, Bakura wrote letters to her in Heaven. Sass always left him alone when he was writing. He got very emotional and serious when he did. He remained in that state for a couple of hours afterwards._

_Sass heard a door creak. Looking up, she saw Bakura walk out and into the bathroom across the hall. When she heard the door lock, Sass looked back at the door, left ajar. She then noticed something on the floor, a sheet of paper. Sass got up and picked it up. Immediately, she saw it was a letter to Amane. She went to drop it when she saw her name. Curious, she continued._

**_I feel bad, Amane, keeping this secret from Sass for all these years. But if she finds out... I don't know what she'd do. The locket is rightfully hers, I agree, but I can't even open it. There was no key. So there really is no point in bothering Sass about this. She wouldn't even be able to get into it either-_**

_Sass stopped reading and stared. Locket? What locket? Why had Bakura been hiding it for all these years? Sass froze. Did this have something to do with the day they found her? Throwing the paper to the ground, Sass turned and stormed into Bakura's room. It was a neat, prim room, usually hardly slept in, with few possessions. Sass looked at the bag Bakura had left on the bed. He hadn't even unpacked yet. She pulled open the zipper and yanked open the bag, beginning to throw clothes out of it in fervent searching. Most of it was clothes and textbooks, nothing that indicated to the presence of a locket. Sass felt like giving up hope, when... a little red box was visible in the corner after throwing out nearly six layers of clothes. Sass lunged for it the moment she noticed it. It was a velvet jewellery box, as big as Sass' small palm, and completely flat on top. Slowly, Sass opened the box and discarded the lid. Inside, laying on black cloth, was a large oval locket attached to a silver chain with a broken clasp. On the front of the locket was a heart bordered by two blooming roses. In the centre of the heart was the initials, 'S.K'_

_"Sass?"_

_Sass turned around and saw Bakura standing in the doorway. Bakura's eyes saw the locket in the box in Sass' hand and his eyes widened to the size of saucepans..._

* * *

"Miss? Miss?"

Sass calmly looked away from the window and into the face of the Barbie-esque flight attendant. Her friendly smile gave the impression of being kind but her dark green-grey eyes radiated a coldness which looked down at Sass.

"Yes?" Sass replied cordially, fighting the temptation to say something nasty.

"You're an unaccompanied minor, correct?" '

"I'm small, but I ain't a midget" Sass replied jokingly but the attendant's cold eyes looked up and down her. Sass followed her gaze and saw her black army boots, her torn dark denim jeans, her 'Bullet For My Valentine' T-Shirt, her torn denim vest and her black bandana. The attendant's eyes came to a rest on her wrist. Sass glanced at her right wrist and saw her golden bracelet. It reached from her wrist to halfway down her forearm, with a eye-shaped symbol facing upwards. All Sass had to do was push the eye up a little and she could pop the bracelet open and slip it off. Sass placed her left hand over it, which caused the attendant to look back at her.

"Who are you meeting at the airport?" the attendant inquired

"That is none of your concern, frankly" Sass replied, "Do you see me asking who does your fake tan?"

The attendant's eyes blazed at her, but she walked on. Sass gave a smug half-snigger and looked back at her Millennium Bracelet. Her father went for a trip to Egypt after she spent three months with the family, while he was still curator of the Domino City Museum, and brought back gifts for her and Bakura. She recieved the Millennium Bracelet and Bakura recieved the Millennium Ring. She didn't really know much about it, just that it had a strong connection to one of Sass' favourite all-time games, Duel Monsters.

Instinctively, Sass reached for her silver-studded belt and pulled her deck out of the carrier attached to it. Sass pulled the top card off the deck, revealling the card of a young woman. She was clothed in a black shirt, in a halter-neck mid-driff top, a black skirt which reached her knees, skin-tight pants and black slippers. Her hair, completely pitch black, was done in a style similar to that of _I Dream of Jeannie, _done up with a golden hair tie. In her sheath around her waist was a long black-handled sword while in her hand was a long staff with runes carved in the stick and three medium-sized orbs on the top of it. Her attack points were 2900, her defence points were 2800 and the title, written at the top in gold, was 'The Warrior Princess of Twilight'. A unique card, only one of a kind in the world, and Sass' favourite. Her father had given this to her at the same time she got the Bracelet. It was the first card to start off her deck. Ever since there, she had collected exactly 79 cards and treasures each and every one of them as if they were real people. Truthfully, they were the only family she had.

Sass sighed again. That was mean, thinking that about her adoptive father and Bakura. They were kind to her, they took her in, they tried their hardest to give her a nice life. But her father travelled her around a lot for the first year they were there. When they reached Australia, she finally settled there. But her dad still needed to travel. School, to her, was a neccessity but also an inconvenience. No one spoke to her, she didn't speak to them and most of the material she was given by the teacher, she was taught on her travels with her father and afternoon, she would come home from school alone and walk inside, seeing the housekeeper cooking her dinner. She would leave by 8 and Sass had to lock up the house. Sometimes, when she couldn't sleep, she'd slip out and go for walks. It was dark and, most times, cold but Sass sometimes felt like she needed the fresh air. On those nights, she would go to the abandoned building only 3 blocks from her house and climb to the broken water-tower at the top, the front of it ripped off. She would sit there and look up at the stars, just thinking of what it would feel like to belong somewhere.

"Attention, passengers. We are about to land in Domino City. Please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts"

Sass shoved her deck back into her carrier case and did up her seatbelt while the plastic attendant gaved her death stares as she walked past. The plane's engine roared as it came in to landing. Sass looked out the window as the plane passed over green grasslands and, eventually, runway asphalt. Instinctively, Sass reached for her neck, fingering the new silver chain around her neck, following it all the way down to the large oval locket at the middle of it. She traced the 'S.K' in the heart as she heard the screech of the landing wheels against the asphalt.

_'I'm sorry, Papa, Bakura. But I need answers. I need to find out where I belong' _Sass looked down at her locket, _'I need to find my family'_


	3. Facing The Past

Thank you to all who have reviewed and/or read my story. Be paitent for updates. I'll be able to heaps during my holidays but during the rest of the year, it'll take longer (Blame my parents).

**What happened so far: **_Sass is travelling to Domino City in search of her family, leaving her adoptive family back in Australia..._

* * *

**Facing The Past**

The hallway out was hot and crowded, similar to the feeling of being stuck in a sauna with 2000 people. Sass was thankful to escape the stampede into the wider arrivals area. Suddenly, Sass wished she was back in the air-restricted hallway. As people walked through the gate, there was always someone to greet them. Sass watched as three unaccompained minors ran for the safety of their mother's arms; a middle-aged man (one of the ones that had flirted with the flight attendant, Sass noted smugly) greeted his tiny, curly-haired wife and his three excitable children, all under the age of 12; a black elderly man with a cane be greeted by a young black man and his pretty long-haired fiancee and a young woman, no more than 21, run screaming into the arms of her three best friends, gasping at their new hairstyles and exclaiming over the many changes that had happened since they'd seen each other.

With all except the last one (which made Sass slight nauseous), Sass felt a pang in her chest watching the heartfelt reunions. Hoisting her backpack properly on her shoulder, she grabbed her duffle bag off the nearby conveter belt and hurried towards Customs. As her bags went through the large X-ray machine and Sass headed through the metal detector, a dull, portly balding man screened her with his hand-held metal detector. Suddenly, he jabbed the detector between her legs and thrusted upwards. Sass turned to him sharply.

"Listen, mate, just coz I'm a teenager don't mean I know how to hide dangerous weapons in impossible places" Sass snarled, shocking the Customs worker, "Jab me there again, I'll take that black stick of yours and jab you where the sun don't shine"

The man raised his eyebrows but didn't retaliate. He finished her screening and waved her on, turning his probing device on an unsuspecting Asian businesswoman talking on her Bluetooth headset. Sass grabbed her bags and headed towards one of the front desks. Getting her passport stamped seemed like a labourious job. The line could rival the Great Wall of China in length. To distract her from the crawling-paced line, Sass looked around for something to read or think about. She saw screaming toddlers with paitent mothers trying to calm them with bribes of lollies and chocolates. Lonely businessmen, probably ones who travelled so much they were famous in the Frequent Flyers section, sat in the terminal seats, reading the Financial section of the paper, lost in a world of stockmarkets and shares. Also-

"Big brother!"

Sass was distracted from her train of thought and turned to see the source of the shout. A young girl, no more than eight or nine, with pretty blonde pigtails dressed in pink overalls and a white shirt dropped her Barbie luggage and ran for the out-stretched arms of a boy around the same age as Sass. He had blonde dreadlock hair and, Sass judged from his Billabong boardshorts and shirt and the surfing magazine he just dropped, he was a surfer dude. He picked up his little sister, spun her around into a hug and held her steady of his waist.

"Hey, princess" the boy smiled, "How have you been, Karen?"

"Oh, Sam, camp was so much fun. We went canoeing and horse-back riding" Karen wrapped her arms around her brother's neck, "But I missed you so much, bro"

"I missed you too, sis" Sam smiled and just hugged his little sister for a while. Sass had to look away at that moment. She felt tears coming on but she held them back. She never cried in front of people. Never...

* * *

_Sass stood on her tip-toes, trying to see over the large huddle of people flowing out of Arrivals. There were so many people coming out, old people, young people, married people, single people but not one of them was the person she wanted to see. _

_"Papa, where is he?" Sass asked, looking up at her father. He was looking at the arrivals gate, his eyes searching the crowd more swiftly than Sass could. She was only eleven, she couldn't even see over the heads of the crowd. Sass silently cursed herself for her shorter-than-average stature._

_"He'll be here, Saskura. Just be paitent" her father reassured her, patting her shoulder. Sass grimaced and looked back at the gate, now twice as determined to find him. Suddenly, a flash of purple-white hair was visible coming through the gate. Sass watched, the joy building up inside her, as he revealled himself fully, dressed in a light blue t-shirt with a dark blue jacket and black business pants. He was pulling a wheely bag behind him and holding a backpack on his right shoulder. Sass darted passed her father before he even saw what she did, heading straight for her brother._

_"Bakura!!" Sass shrieked with delight._

_Bakura's brown eyes lit up with delight as he saw his little sister running towards him. He dropped his bags and crouched down with out-stretched arms, beckoning to Sass. Sass leapt into her brother's arms, who twirled her around and hugged her close to him. Sass smiled and hugged him back. Bakura then gently put her back down and smiled at her._

_"Hey, Sass. How's it going?" Bakura smiled. Sass noticed the hint of a British accent developing in his voice. She liked it. It suited him._

_"Great, bro! We went to Tokyo and Cairo and Paris and Rome and Venice this month!" Sass smiled happily at him, holding up her disposable camera, "When we get my photos developed, I'll show you them! How was Eton?"_

_"Oh, like school. Same old" Bakura held out his arms again and Sass drove straight into them, holding Bakura so tight, she didn't think she'd be able to let him go._

_"I missed you so much" Sass sighed to him_

_"I missed you too, Sass" She felt Bakura smile into her shoulder and the hug around her got a little tighter. Everything was perfect. It was almost Christmas, Sass' first summer one now that they'd moved to Sydney, and her father and brother were here to share it. Nothing could make it better..._

* * *

"Miss? Your passport?"

Sass was pulled out of her memories by a frizzy haired impaitent woman at the front desk. Sass flashed her passport to the woman, who gave it a glance and then stamped it.

"Thank you. Next!" the woman called out to the nervous-looking man behind Sass. Sass headed off towards the front doors and exited to breezes of fresh air. In front of her was a large grassy green square in the middle of four busy roads, with a large angel fountain and gardens and benches. In the corner, shaded by apple trees, was a small park area that little kids were playing in while their parents watched them and gossiped amongst themselves. Sass quickly crossed the road, earning the shout of a taxi driver and Sass, in return, giving him the finger, but she stood right in the middle of the square area. She stretched out her arms and laughed gaily, spinning slowly around on the spot. She didn't care that she was drawing the attention and stares of passers-by, she concerned herself with taking in the sensations around her. The smells of daisies in the little gardens by the benches, the taste of fresh air in her lungs and mouth, the feeling of cool fountain water gently dripping on her fingertips, the sight of natural beauty all around her. But what she adored the most was the sounds. The sounds of people talking to each other and laughing about some in-joke. The sounds of lovers whispering 'I love you' in each other's ears before kissing each other passionately. The sounds of little kids squealing in delight as their father picked them up, playing 'helicopter' and going round and round until they were dizzy. It was all so wonderful. It filled Sass with the sensation of life and how wonderful it was.

Suddenly, a new sound caught Sass' ears. The rumbling of a train entering the station. Sass looked up at the building across the road, from the corner of the airport. A train station. It had the large steps that you'd usually see in front of a courthouse and pillars carved with the most intricate detail... Then a thought hit Sass. She was going to be walking around the city today, scoping out the area. She didn't want to drag her luggage around with her the whole time. And typically, in a train station, there were usually lockers of some sort... Sass immediately crossed the road (flipping off yet another enraged taxi driver) and entered the station.

* * *

20 minutes later, Sass emerged from the station, now liberated from the responsibility of a backpack and a duffle bag. She took a deep breath of the cool air and held it a little in her lungs before exhaling. It felt good to be on the ground again, breathing in tree-generated air and not stale carpet cleaner. Sass stretched her arms, stiff from being seated for so long, and crossed the road again (this time, without strife from angry taxi drivers) and headed straight to the centre, where the fountain stood tall and proud. Sass observed the detail of the fountain more closely. In the centre, on a pedestal, was the angel with long hair and an olive crown around her head. She was clothed in a long white sleeveless dress with outstretched wings. Her hands were in a giving position, outstretched and placed together. Out of the palms of her hands was where the water came from, similar to a waterfall. Sass looked down at the floor of the fountain and saw thousands of coins shimmering in the refraction of the sun in the water, sparkling and dancing in the water's surface.

"You going to make a wish to Saint Grace?"

Sass looked to her left to see a man, around 50 or so, looking at her. He was dressed in a dirty brown overcoat with wildy gray hair. His top hat was patched and dogged, looking like it hadn't been washed in ages. His gloves had the fingers worn off and his pants reached down to halfway down his shins, where the ends were worn away. His shoes were full of holes, revealling dirty dark gray socks. The only thing that seemed remotely new was his shirt, a clean white one which Sass guessed he'd gotten from the Salvation Army or a Red Cross charity.

"Who?" Sass asked kindly

"Saint Grace, the Charity" the hobo man pointed at the statue of the angel, "You know the story of our fair Grace?"

"I'm afraid not" Sass was interested. Most people looked at the man like he was an average nutter but, from her street experience, these people had the most fascinating tales of all to tell.

"She was a simple peasant woman with a devotion to God. She was poor and hard-working with little pay, but she felt all had a purpose. Everyone adored her. She always gave to whoever was in need. Whether you were tired, hungry, poor or sick, gentle Grace, as everyone called her, was always there to lend a helping hand" the hobo man smiled as he told the tale, "However, she helped a young girl, who was yearning for the affection of the son of a lord. When the lord's son fell in love with the girl, Grace helped them elope as his father disapproved of such a union. The lord had Grace condemned to death for witchcraft and she was burnt at the stake. But the people, who mourned Grace so deeply, built her this monument in her honour, portraying her as an angel and the saintly soul she was. God bless her"

"Do people make wishes to her?" Sass inquired to the coins in the fountain floor.

"Haven't you read the inscription around the fountain yet?" the hobo man pointed. Sass looked at the edge of the fountain pool. Around it, where people sat while having lunch and having a chat, was an inscription written in Latin. Sass, thankfully, could read Latin fluently, thanks to her professor father.

"_May illud in quaero of suum pectus pectoris votum reperio is in pectus pectoris of alius" _Sass read aloud, "May those in search of their heart's desire-"

"Find it in the hearts of others" the hobo man finished off, "People take their coins, turn around and whisper the Latin phrase to the coin before tossing it in and making their wish. Saint Grace will always help you when you really need it"

Sass watched as the man sauntered off towards the shopping district, tipping his patched and torn hat to those that passed his way. Sass looked at the fountain for a second, considered the words of the hobo man.

_'Won't hurt' _Sass shrugged her shoulders and put her hand in her pocket, bringing out an Australian two-dollar coin. Maybe Saint Grace is watching and will grant her wish.

Sass turned around and faced the airport. She clutched the coin in her hands and let her heart's desire overwhelm her. What did she truly want? What does she truly wish for? Suddenly, Sass snapped her eyes open, and clutched the coin tighter.

"_May illud in quaero of suum pectus pectoris votum reperio is in pectus pectoris of alius" _Sass whispered to the coin. She had a brief pause before speaking, "Saint Grace, please, help me find where I belong"

Sass then threw the coin behind her. Just as the coin hit the surface of the water and Sass' emotions reached their peak, she felt a stab of pain in her left arm. Sass looked down at her Millennium Bracelet. The eye symbol was suddenly glowing. Sass watched as it continued to glow for a couple more seconds and then died out. Sass just continued to stare at it.

_'Did it just... nah, just a trick of the sun'_ Sass shook her head and looked back at Saint Grace in the centre. Her marble eyes, although pure white, seemed to look down kindly on her. Sass nodded politely to the saint before heading towards the small street right near the train station, where the hobo had gone. Sass had thought at first that it was a busy road, but she discovered that is was the shopping district of Domino City. She saw clothes stores, video stores, game stores and, most importantly, fast food stores. Sass felt a grumbling rise from her stomach. She didn't have much money, most of it had gone to getting the plane ticket, but she was starving and she had enough for a motel room and a meal. She headed towards the first fast food place, a McDonalds, and stood in line, reading the menu. Sass nearly drooled at the sight of a large french fries and an extra-large thickshake meal for $5.00. Sass didn't have to wait long for her meal. She'd gotten there just before the midday rush, so the line wasn't too long.

"Here's your meal. Thank you and have a nice day" a pimply seventeen year old boy smiled awkwardly at her as he gave Sass her meal. Politely, Sass smiled back and took a booth near the window. Sass rolled her eyes and feasted on her meal. While Sass drank her extra-large vanilla thickshake, she glanced at her arm and saw the Millennium Bracelet staring back at her. She remembered the jab of pain in her arm and the glowing of the eye, but she just shook her head. It was a piece of jewellery, nothing more.

The thought of jewellery made Sass reach for her neck. She felt the large oval locket at the base of her neck gently with her fingertips. Her history, her memories, were all tied to this locket and she couldn't even open it. Her fingers curled around the locket and she held in a fist. Maybe if Bakura had been honest with her, it wouldn't be like this...

* * *

_Sass knew how this looked back she didn't care. Bakura's eyes were a mix of fury, shock and, perhaps, fear. Maybe he knew this day would come, but he hadn't planned it like this._

_"What the hell are you doing in my room?" Bakura demanded. Sass noted how he fell to the fury first. Unusual for Bakura: he usually went for shock._

_"Maybe you can firstly tell me why the hell you have MY locket?" Sass replied, trying to keep her voice steady._

_"What makes you think it's yours?" Bakura snapped_

_"Well, it'll be pretty sad if it's yours" Sass shot back at him. When Sass got mad, she got sharp and witty. _

_Bakura looked down at his feet and saw Amane's letter. He picked it up and read it. Sass flinched as she saw Bakura turn a deep shade of Tyrian purple, the colour that Roman emperors wore in their royal robes. Sass could see the fury tripling in Bakura's eyes but she stood her ground._

_"You read my letter to Amane..." Bakura said, dangerously quiet. Sass knew that this kind of quiet was far worse than yelling. He was going to implode before he exploded._

_"Glad I did, otherwise you would have keep this from me for ages" Sass growled at him._

_Bakura moved so fast, Sass almost didn't see it. He ran at her, hands out-stretched, face twisted in fury. Sass ducked out of the way, wrapped her arms around his thin waist and flipped him on his back, behind her. Sass turned and faced him. Bakura lay flat on the floor, completely stunned. Sass stared at him, paralysed with shock. Bakura had never come at her like that before. She had seen him snap at her and raise his voice at her, but never once had he even threatened to hit her. He had never raised a hand threateningly at her. Regaining herself, Sass grabbed the locket out of the box and threw the box next to Bakura._

_"Where did you get the locket?" Sass demanded, "Tell me!"_

_Bakura stubbornly didn't reply at first, but then slowly responded, "It was around your neck when you were found. The clasp was broken. It had fallen on the step. i picked it up..."_

_"Did Papa know about this?"_

_Sass watched as Bakura slowly shook his head. Sass looked at the locket and study it more carefully. On the back, Sass saw a small keyhole on the right-hand side. Where was the key?_

_"Where's the key, Bakura?" Sass turned on her brother_

_"I don't know"_

_"Don't lie to me! Tell me!"_

_"I swear I don't know! You didn't have a key on you when we found you!" Bakura snapped back at her._

_Sass stared at the locket in frustration. A connection to her past and she couldn't even OPEN it? Sass shoved the locket in her pocket and headed towards the door._

_"Where do you think you're going?" Sass looked back to see Bakura getting back on his feet, "I'm not done with you. We need-"_

_"What are you going to do? Try and strangle me again?" Sass faced the dumbstruck Bakura, "I'm going for a walk. I need fresh air and need to get out of this house. I need to be around people that aren't going to lie and hide from me"_

_"But, Sass, I-" _

_Sass wasn't interested. She strode out of the room and ran down the staircase. When she reached the front door, she slammed it so hard it echoed around the house, but Sass didn't care. She just walked off down the street. If she had stayed, she would have seen Bakura hanging his head. As a single tear trickled down his face, he finished his sentence._

_"I wanted you to stay..."_

* * *

**Thank you for reading. My chapters are getting longer, I know, and it felt right to end it here. Chapter 4 will be up soon. Review me!!!**

**Next Chapter: **_Transformation_


	4. Transformation

Thank you to all who have reviewed and/or read my story. Be paitent for updates. I'll be able to heaps during my holidays but during the rest of the year, it'll take longer (Blame my parents).

**What happened so far: **_Now in Domino City, Sass is not sure where to go or what to do..._

* * *

**Transformation**

The wind seemed to blow right through her. Sass wrapped her arms around her, her teeth chattering so much she could put a plank of wood through them and it would come out as woodchips. Sass looked around her. The square was completely devoid of humans. The only things still open was the train station and the airport, with the only cars appearing were taxi drivers. Sass was curled up on a bench, right next to the fountain, and looking up at Saint Grace. The motel didn't have any vancancies for tonight and all the others were in the business district. It was eight o'clock at night and Sass was tired, cold and hungry, having miscalculated her money and didn't have enough for dinner (Maths was always her weakest point), she really didn't want to walk all that way. She had spent the last 9 hours wondering around the shopping district and window shopping, which was incredibly irritating. Clothes shopping made want to die of boredom and seeing all those music, movies, books and games and not being able to buy them was pure torture.

Sass study Saint Grace's face more carefully, now that she had nothing else to do. Her eyes still looked upon her kindly, like she was fond of the young girl lying on the bench. To Sass, it looked like she was trying to show Sass something. But what? Sass half-heartedly hoped that it was a room with a heater and a soft bed but she just pulled her jacket tighter on her and continued to shiver. Sass cursed herself for being impulsive. If she hadn't just gotten up and walked out, she wouldn't be freezing to death on the street. At least when she went for her walks, she had somewhere to go home too. But, as before, Sass was still alone...

* * *

_The dim light of the kitchen made it hard for Sass to see, but she couldn't turn the bigger light on or risk waking up Bakura and Papa. Sass looked through the door to see Bakura lying on the lounge, his favourite book wide-open on his chest, and his long legs dangling over the arm of it. Sass looked up at the kitchen clock: ten o'clock. Her father would have fallen asleep over an hour ago. She sighed and looked down upon the piece of paper that lay in front of her._

_**Dear Papa and Bakura,**_

**_I know that you only wish for the best for me. I know you both care for me so much. I care for you too. You are my brother and father, despite not being related in blood. But I need to find me._**

**_When I came to you, I knew only my name and age. It had never use to bother me, but as I grew older and my personality developed, I became frustrated. You both have a history, a past. There have been good times and bad times, some heart-wrenching times, but you use those experiences to make you a stronger and fully-rounded person. I have only the four years which I have spent with you to reflect on. A four-year-old cannot reflect and learn and that is what it feels like for me. I need to know that I didn't just come out of nowhere._**

**_Sydney is beautiful, I don't deny it. But, like everywhere else, I still am the outcast. Everyone looks upon me as the strange kid, the quiet kid, the smart kid... they never call me Sass or Saskura. I need to find a place where people won't go, "There's the wierd kid", but instead will say, "It's Sass! Hey, Saskura, how are you?"_**

**_When you wake up, I will have been gone for nearly eight hours. I will write, but don't bother to search for me. Please remember how much I love you, but I need to do this. I hope you can understand or will learnt to over time. _**

**_Love always, _**

**_Saskura_**

_Sass read over the message once more before folding it and placing it in an envelope marked only 'Bakura and Papa'. She grabbed her locket off the kitchen table, now attached to a new silver chain which Sass had bought while she went for her walk. Picking up her backpack and duffle bag, Sass went to leave. She paused only for a second by the lounge, where Bakura's head rested on the pillow. She gently kissed his forehead and slipped the envelope in his hands._

_"Goodbye, big brother" Sass whispered_

_She headed through the front door, remembering to carefully close it without the hinges creaking, and ran to the taxi that waited out the front of her house. Sass quickly closed the car door behind her and the taxi started off. She watched her home fade in the back window as the taxi drove away, somehow just knowing that it would be the last time she ever saw that house._

_"Where to?" the taxi driver, a 40-year-old Lebanese man in a pressed-clean shirt, looked at Sass with narrow eyes in the review mirror._

_"The airport, please. Could you please hurry? I'm catching at a plane at half-past 11" Sass told him_

_"Where do you want to go, so late at night?" the taxi driver raised an eyebrow_

_"Domino City" Sass replied, adding in her thoughts, 'And my future'..._

* * *

Sighing, Sass rubbed her arms, trying to increase the blood flow and generate some warmth. Sass turned on the bench and saw the train station. Maybe she could get her large leather jacket and use that? Sass sat up and, still rubbing her arms, slowly headed off towards the train station.

"Where are you going, sweetheart?"

Sass turned to see a man, around 20, with a Billy Idol haircut and a lip piercing. His eyes reminded Sass of the flight attendant: cold and domineering. But this time, he wasn't hiding them behind a fake, pearly-white smile. His lips, scarred with cuts, twisted into a smug snarl. Sass got into a defensive stance.

"What's it to you, brighteyes?"

The man took a step forward, causing Sass to take a step back. He wore a black suit with a white collared shirt. Sass could see where his jacket gently swayed in the breeze that his belt was lined with an assortment of knives.

"We don't like your tone, missy"

Sass turned to see a black boy with dreadlocks in a classic gangsta outfit while an black-haired emo boy, dressed like Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance, leaning against one of the trees and staring at her too. Sass backed up against the bench while the boys closed in on her. Sass looked around furiously for a weapon and cursed to see that the area was clean. Sass fell and sat on the bench as the Billy Idol boy began to stroke her cheek. She resisted the urge to bite it.

"How about you come with us?"

Sass moved her arm to push herself back, but it slipped and fell into the fountain water. Water... Sass looked at the Billy Idol boy with a fiery gaze.

"How about you go to hell?"

Sass threw a handful of water at his face. Temporarily blinded, he stumbled into his black friend abd the emo boy. Sass instinctively executed a round-house kick, knocking all three of them down like they were Dominos.

"Bowling for Dummies" Sass sniggered and took off like a shot down the shopping district.

"Get her!" Sass heard the yell from the Billy Idol kid, "She ruined my hair. She won't get away with this"

'Oh, great. A metro boy. Should've known' Sass rolled her eyes and quickened her pace. Over the sounds of her feet hitting the pavement and the rapid beating of her heart, Sass could hear them running behind. No more than 50 feet, Sass estimated. She looked from her right to her left, for some sort of place to escape to. Finally, her eyes came upon an alleyway, leading to a road. She took a sharp left and ran through, heading towards the road. Her heart beat harden. Her head began to feel dizzy. She was tired, hungry and running. She didn't know how long she could keep it up. The running footsteps behind her were gaining fast. Exiting the alleyway, Sass continued to run up the road. She could see lights in the distance. At that moment, however, the clouds opened up and rain started to sprinkle down. Sass used this as an opportunity. If the rain began pouring heavily soon, it would make it harder for the hoods to catch up. Sass could see the lights getting closer as the rain got heavier. But the running footsteps seemed to be getting faster. Sass didn't want to look back. It would slow her down. Her heart was racing as it was and her head was spinning like an out-of-control carousel. When she was only 50 feet from the lights, her exhausted legs gave out and she went tumbling onto the road. Thankfully, it was a quiet road, no cars, but she grazed her knee on the asphalt as she fell. She let out a loud exclaimation of pain and struggled to get up. However, her arms wouldn't let her.

"Well, well, our little jogger seems to have lost her will to run" Sass turned to see the Billy Idol kid smiling ruthlessly at her, "Grab her"

The emo kid and the black kid grabbed an arm each and held her against the nearby wall. Sass tried to struggle, but her limbs were too weak. She wanted to shout out, but her lungs weren't recovered enough from the run to do it. The Billy Idol kid began to stroke her cheek again, this time with the blade of his army knife.

"Once again..."

"Let her go!"

They all turned to across the street, where the lights were. A figure was emerging from them. As he got closer, Sass made out a small boy, probably only an inch taller than her, with large spiky hair. It was blonde with streaks of purple shooting through it. He was in a blue school uniform, which Sass couldn't make out properly due to the heaviness of the rain. Sass' blue-green eyes stared into the new kid's violet ones. They seemed so innocent but brave and loyal, a definite contrast to the Billy Idol kid's cold grey-blue ones.

"Who are you kid?"

"Does it matter? Just let her go. She doesn't want you"

Sass watched him slowly clutch a string around his neck, which was attached to a strange-looking object around his neck. Judging from the shape she could make out, it looked like an upside-down pyramid, but Sass put it down to fuzziness due to the rain. The Billy Idol kid and his crew began to turn on the small boy.

"This don't concern you" the black kid snapped

"Get back to your cozy cubbyhouse" the emo boy snickered at him

"I'm not leaving" the boy's right hand clenched into a fist, which began to shake. Sass didn't know whether it was from fear, anger or the cold. The two boys let her go, causing her to slid to a heap against the wall, as they began to gang up on the boy.

"Fine by me" the Billy Idol kid turned to his lackeys, "Let's go, boys. A second treat"

As they went to circle him, Sass' heart leapt into her throat. They were going to destroy him, and he was defending her! She went to get up but she was too weak. She prayed for someone to help her.

'Please,' Sass pleaded to the gods above, 'Help us'

Then, like an answer to her prayers, the eye symbol on the Millennium Bracelet began to glow again, this time more brightly and lasting longer. Sass looked at it in shock but was distracted by a similar golden glow out of the corner of her eye. The small boy's object had begun to glow as well. Sass felt a feeling of absolute tranquility engulf her before the glow of the Millennium Bracelet and the boy's object slowly vanished.

At first, Sass didn't notice anything different. She still felt like Sass. It was still her in her body. But suddenly, Sass looked down and saw that her arms, usually quite short with small hands, was now longer with slender hands. Sass then noticed that her exhaustion, hunger and generally tiredness was gone. In fact, she was now brimming with energy. Suddenly, a booming voice echoed around her.

"I said, leave her alone!"

Sass looked up to see the small boy, but he wasn't as small anymore. He looked like he had shot up a couple of inches. His hair had grown too, with a couple of extra golden blonde bangs joining his 'do. His voice, once innocent and higher-pitched, was now deep and commanding. It was like he had gotten a puberty boost in the past minute. The hoods flinched at the order, but still got out their weapons.

"Or what, hedgehog?" the Billy Idol kid sneered at him.

"Or you'll have to deal with the both of us"

Sass didn't recognise her voice at first. It seemed deeper and more elegant, a commanding voice. Sass stood up and walked past the hoods, who stood in shock at Sass' transformation. Sass was actually at Billy Idol Boy's height now, not looking up at him. She had grown a couple of inches, but she was still shorter than the spiky-haired kid. Sass' walk felt more elegant and graceful, not the brash run or laid-back walk she usually had. She stood next to the spiky haired kid, and faced off against the trio of hoods. She seemed to gain courage when she stood next to him.

"Do you still wish to against us?" Sass asked in the same dangerously quiet tone Bakura had used on her.

"Two against three and one of them is a chick" Billy Idol sniggered, "I guess we'll be fine"

Sass felt the anger build up in her like a volcano about to explode. But then the black boy turned to her and leered at her, "This'll be fun, girly""

She snapped. When the black boy touched her cheek, she grabbed his arm flung him over her shoulder, landing him on his back in the middle of a puddle. The Billy Idol kid and the emo kid both went for the spiky-haired kid. He was able to keep back the emo kid, who was really just a stick in clothes. All he had to do was give him a quick punch in the chest and a kick to the adbomen and he was down for the count. The spiky haired kid smiled at the sight of the emo kid but didn't have time to gloat. He was suddenly tackled to the ground by the Billy Idol kid, army knife unsheathed, and was wrestling to keep the knife away from his face.

"Say goodbye" Billy Idol Boy snarled angrily at the spiky haired kid, the knife inching closer to his cheek.

"Goodbye" Sass announced as she round-house kicked him to the head and kicked the knife out of his hand. Quickly recovering, Billy Idol Boy went for a round two, arms outstretched ready to strangle her. Calmly , Sass stopped him in his tracks with her first instinctive attack: a swift scissor kick to the nether regions. He curled up on the ground in pain as his lackeys, both injured and limping, went to help him up. The spiky-haired kid walked over to them, his now crimson eyes ablaze with anger.

"Now, get out and don't you dare come anywhere near here again" he warned them in a voice so menacing, Sass felt the blood in her veins shiver.

They didn't need a second warning. They all ran down the road, further and further down the road, until their shapes were disfigured by the rain and they became just shadows in the distance. Sass never thought she could see wounded men run so fast. When they finally vanished, Sass turned to the spiky-haired boy right next to her.

"Thanks, mate. Thought I was a goner for a moment" Sass told him

"It was no problem. I would have done it for anyone" he replied to her.

"Yeah, but not many people would do it for me" Sass held out her hand, "Thank you"

When the boy took her hand, Sass felt a tingling go up her other arm. Looking down, she saw her Millennium Bracelet glowing again. The moment it finished, Sass felt her new-found strength ebbing from her. Her handshake got weaker and her legs gave way, causing her to fall to her knees.

"Oh God" Sass gasped out as the boy grabbed her and lay her gently on the ground.

"Are you OK? Grandpa! Come help! Grandpa!" the boy looked her, his voice growing softer, "It's OK. I'm gonna help you. Everything will be OK"

Sass looked up at those large, innocent violet eyes, the last thing she saw before she slipped into the dark grasps of unconsciousness. Everything will be OK....

* * *

**Thank you people for reading. Review please and the next chapter will be up as soon as possible.**

**Next Chapter: **_Life at Domino High_


	5. Life At Domino High

Thank you to all who have reviewed and/or read my story. Be paitent for updates. I'll be able to heaps during my holidays but during the rest of the year, it'll take longer (Blame my parents).

**What happened so far: **_After being saved by a spiky-haired boy with an unusual looking item, Sass has fallen unconsicous due to the effects of her mysterious Millennium Bracelet..._

* * *

**Life At Domino High**

The aroma of sizzling bacon and sausages awoke Sass from her slumber. Her eyes flickered open to see a white ceiling. Sass just laid there in stunned silence, taking in her new change of setting. Slowly and steadily, Sass rose to a seated position and shook off the remainer of her drowziness before looking at her surroundings. She was in a small cozy lounge/living room area. There was a TV to the right of a clear back sliding door, in front of the window, and a lounge across from it, where Sass was lying. There was a unit decorated with pictures to the right of the TV and, next to the lounge, diagonal from the unit, was a classic wooden table with six matching chairs. A blue vase with a single sunflower sat in the middle of the table.

"Oh, you're up. You slept so heavily, I thought you'd never wake up"

Sass turned around to see a man standing in a kitchen area no more than 10 feet from the lounge room. He was a short man, his head only just visible over the bench, with spiky grey hair hidden under a black bandana. Sass could just see his green overalls as he reached over and flipped the bacon over in their pan. He had a pointed beard and big violet eyes. Violet eyes...

"That boy!" Sass exclaimed, jumping off the lounge, almost making the elderly man jump out of his skin.

"Boy?" he looked at Sass with a puzzled expression on his face.

"The boy who helped me. He helped me fight off the hoods" Sass looked around her, worried but tried not to express it.

The man's puzzled expression cleared instantly, "Oh, you mean Yugi. Yes, I had to help him carry you inside. Found him in the middle of the road cradling you in his arms"

The man wiped his hands on his overalls and walked over to Sass. He was the exact same height as her. Sass silently felt relieved that, at last, was an adult she could look at eye-to-eye.

"I'm Solomon Moto. Yugi is my grandson" he held out his hand, "You can call me Gramps"

"OK, Gramps" Sass shook his hand, "I'm Saskura. You can call me Sass"

Sass glanced over Gramps' shoulder, looking at the food. To a girl who hadn't eaten in nearly 24 hours, it was near torture to launch herself at it, "Those bacon and sausages sure smell delicious"

"Would you like some? You look like you're starving" Gramps smiled at Sass, who stared at the food with saucepan wide eyes.

She couldn't say yes faster enough. It wasn't long before Sass sat at the wooden table gulping down bacon and sausages like there is no tomorrow. Gramps watched with an amused smirk on his face as he brought over her third plate. Sass felt a little greedy eating so much food but the smells of breakfast wiped her guilt from her mind.

"You really were starving" Gramps sniggered at her, "Better save some for Yugi. Which reminds me..."

Gramps turned and grabbed a wooden-handled broom from next to the unit. He measured out his spot, next to the lounge and 5 metres from the staircase which led upstairs before he began jabbing the ceiling rapidly with the handle end of the broom. Sass watched with an inquistive look on her face until she heard a large thump. This didn't come from the broom, it came from upstairs.

"OW" a voice cried out. Sass recognised it from the innocent boy from last night.

"Get up, Yugi, you lazy bum, or you'll be late to school!" Gramps shouted at the ceiling before turning to Sass, grinning, "Sorry about that, but my grandson sleeps probably just as heavy as you do"

"Don't worry. My brother used to get so frustrated, he'd resort to dropping ice cubes down my pyjamas" Sass' smile faltered for a second as she spoke about Bakura but quickly changed the subject, "Um, sorry, but where's the bathroom?"

"Upstairs, first door on the left. Can't miss it" Gramps replied, "If you wish, we have some old clothes in the cupboard right opposite it. Help yourself"

"Thank you" Sass replied as she hurried up the staircase. Before entering the bathroom, Sass decided to check what Gramps meant by 'old clothes'. Upon opening the cupboard, Sass was immediately hit by a wave of dust. After a moment of coughing, spluttering and getting the dust out of her eyes, Sass looked at what the contents of the cupboard were. They weren't too bad, and completely devoid of female clothing. But then Sass noticed that majority of the clothing was either for elderly men or very young boys, way too small, even for her. Sass pushed a pile out of the way to see the back and saw a new pile. School clothes. Sass pulled them out and saw that they were identical to the uniform that the boy- Yugi- was wearing last night. It had a blue jacket with silver buttons, long blue pants and a white collared shirt. Sass threw the shirt back in the cupboard and looked around for some sort of sewing kit. Gramps must have been married at one time...

"Ah, ha" Sass smiled as she saw a small red sewing back tucked up at the back. Grabbing it, Sass shut the cupboard and took the jacket, pants and kit into the bathroom with her. She spent more time in the bathroom performing her alterations to the uniform than having the actual shower. Using an old pair of scissor, she cut the sleeves off the jacket, giving it the look of being torn off, before removing the silver buttons from the front of the jacket and sewed them on the collar. With the pants, she did the hemline at the bottom and took them up a bit to halfway up her shin before sewing it back up. It, too, had a torn look at the bottom. After being finally satisfied with her new 'Sass-ified' school uniform, Sass finally ran herself a shower.

She laid her uniform on the towel rack and put her old clothes along the side of the bath. When Sass stepped in the shower, the feeling of warm water hitting her freezing cold skin came as an instant relief. Sass sighed happily: she was gonna be in here for a while...

* * *

Sass came running down the staircase, strands of her hair still wet from the shower. She now wore her 'Sass-ified' school uniform, with her army boots, 'BFMV' T-shirt and black bandana. Sass looked around the lounge/living room/kitchen. Gramps wasn't anywhere.

"Gramps?" Sass called out

"In the storage room" Sass heard Gramps call from out the front. Sass walked through a beaded doorway which lead to a wide shop area. But it wasn't just any shop area. Sass gawked at the sight of thousands of Duel Monsters cards in glass cases staring up at her. Trust her to be saved by the grandson of a card trader. Sass looked to see the storage room right next to the shop counter, door wide open, and saw Gramps on a step ladder, organising boxes on a shelf into alphabetical order.

"Where's Yugi?" Sass asked, looking around her. That boy didn't seem the sort to just leave his grandfather here and go galavanting off.

"He was late for school. Only had time to grab a piece of toast" Gramps tutted, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day"

"I know" Sass nodded, "Listen, Gramps, I need to go out. I'll be back by lunch. My clothes are in the bathroom, if it's no trouble" Sass hurried for the front door, "I'm sorry, I'll be back soon"

Sass ran out the door, listening to it jingle behind her as she shut it behind her, before Gramps could reply. Looking up and down the road, now in clear weather, Sass thought in her head where the boys had chased her. Sass followed the road until she found the long alleyway she had run down. From there, it wasn't any trouble for her to find her way through the packed shopping district and back to the town square, full of happy smiling adults getting morning coffees and angry taxi drivers, all that seem to have it in for Sass who took abuse from three of them, each recieving the finger in reply.

Finally, standing on the steps of the train station with her two bags which she retrieved from her rented locker, Sass studied the town map which was on a wall right outside it. She didn't realise just how big the city was until she saw the map, which look up two-thirds of the wall.

"Yes, here you are" Sass point at a small building on the map labelled 'Domino High School'. Sass groaned when she saw the long distance from the station. It wasn't too far from Yugi's house but Sass had run in the exact _opposite _direction and now, the walk looked daunting. Sass turned and looked at the square, sighing. She couldn't believe she was doing this...

"Taxi!" Sass shouted at a passing taxi, which came to a halt instantly. Sass leaped down the staircase, three steps at a time, and quickly got in, throwing her bags on the seat next to her. The driver, an Asian man with a cheerful smile, turned and looked at her.

"Where to, miss?" he inquired politely

"Domino High School" Sass replied, "Please step on it. I'm gonna be late for class"

The driver began to take off but looked at her, puzzled, "Why do you not take the bus?"

"I'm new in town" Sass answered, breathless, "I don't have a pass or anything for the bus"

"A new student?" the taxi driver smiled at her, "You know, I'll give you a discount. I'm in a nice mood and you look lost. You only have to pay $20 for this ride"

"Oh, thank you" Sass grinned at him, grateful. So not all taxi drivers had it out for her, "You don't know how much this means to me""

The man didn't say anything more, but continued to drive. Sass leaned against the door and looked out the window. Now she knew what Blanche DuBois was talking about when she 'always relied on the kindness of strangers'. Sass watched the stores that passed her by as the taxi drove down the highway, towards the business district. When the taxi came to a pause at a stop light, Sass' eyes stumbled upon a bookstore. A very fancy one, _Stages of Imagination _was written on the top in red, cursive writing. They had a theme this week. A sign in the window read, in blood-red creepy writing, 'Classic Horrors'. Two tables sat in the window, covered in indigo-coloured velvet, and it held five stands, each holding a classic horror cover.

Sass ticked them off in her head as she looked at them: Bram Stoker's _Dracula_- read it. Mary Shelley's _Frankenstein_- read it, _A String Of Pearls: A Romance _(the book which first featured demon barber Sweeney Todd)- has seen the play, may get around to the book...

Sass then came to a stop at the fourth book. She didn't see past it. It was a tiny novella, in a brown hard-cover with golden block writing on the cover. Sass didn't have any trouble reading it. _The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde _by R.L Stevenson. She knew that book all too well. It was impossible for her to forget...

* * *

_Sass sat on the lounge, staring at the fireplace. The man, the one who had carried her inside, came back in from the kitchen carrying a tray of three steaming hot mugs. His son, the boy with long lavender-coloured hair, was kneeling on the floor right next to the lounge. He looked at her nervously, unsure what to say. Sass didn't want him to say anything. She was re-going the events in her head. Her name was Saskura and she was 10 years old. What else was there? She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate, but all she got was blank. There was no last name, no middle name, nothing. There was no people, no friends, no family, not even a stuffed animal she carried everywhere. After her name and age, the only thing that came after that was Sass waking up on a large leather lounge surrounded by strangers and discovering that she had no memory of anything._

_"Here" the man offered her a mug, which she automatically took from him, "It will calm your senses"_

_Sass took a sip from the mug. The feeling of hot cocoa soothed her parshed throat and the warmth spread from her throat to her head, relieving her from the gentle throbbing which emitted from the wound on her right temple. The man had placed a band-aid over it, but the cocoa really acted as a painkiller. After the sip, she turned to the boy, who was drinking from his mug._

_"Who are you, anyway?" Sass asked them, looking from the father to the son._

_The son blushed and began speak, "I'm Ryou, Ryou Bakura, and this is my father, Professor Johnathan Hirato Bakura"_

_"I'm the curator of the Domino City Museum" he explained to the curious girl_

_Sass nodded, "My clever powers of deduction tell me that this is your house"_

_Ryou chuckled as his father smiled at her, "Yes, this is my home... well, for not much longer"_

_Sass raised an eyebrow, "Hmmm?"_

_Prof. Bakura placed his half-drained mug on the tray in front of him, "You see, I am not just a professor. I'm an archaeologist. I have to travel everywhere. For all of next year, I'm on contract to several archaeolgical sites throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia"_

_"That sounds fascinating" Sass replied, genuinely interested, "Is Ryou going with you?"_

_"Well, my son has just recieved a spot in Eton. We got his acceptance letter around three weeks ago" Prof. Bakura smiled at his blushing son, "He'll be going at the end of the summer holidays, at the beginning of the next term. I'll be seeing him every holidays and so, but I'll have time to be committed to the digs"_

_Sass looked at Ryou with a frown on her face. Ryou caught her eyes and looked worried, "What is it?"_

_"Your name" Sass replied, getting a raised eyebrow from Ryou, "It doesn't suit you"_

_"What name do you suggest?" Prof. Bakura chuckled at this revelation._

_"Your last name's Bakura, right?" Sass asked. Ryou nodded in reply. Sass smiled, "Yeah, that name suits you. Bakura"_

_Bakura looked at her wierdly before rolling his eyes. A small, smug grin curled up at the corners of his lips. Sass' gaze went from Bakura to the nearby side table. On it was a small book, hardcovered and the title on the front written in gold._

_"What's that?" Sass crawled over on the lounge and grabbed the book off the table, reading the title aloud, "**The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde**"_

_Bakura smiled, "That's my favourite book. Papa bought it for me after he learnt that I had recieved the spot in Eton"_

_Sass looked at it for a moment before handing it to Bakura, "Can you read it to me?"_

_Bakura looked at the book nervously, looking at it and his father before looking back at Sass, "Um, can't you?"_

_"Maybe. I seemed to read the title OK" Sass replied, "But it's your favourite book. You read it. Please?"_

_Sass' eyes widened, a look of pleading and innocence covering her face. Bakura was helpless to the power that puppy-dog look had on him. He took the book and sat next to Sass, who cuddled up into Prof. Bakura. He didn't seem to mind at all that Sass was wet. Bakura gave them one more nervous look, who watched him expectantly, before turning back to the first page of the book. _

_'**Mr Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable...**'_

_As Bakura brought the world of 18th Century Victorian England alive with his words, Sass closed her eyes and listened. She may not be able to remember what is like having a family, but she hoped that it felt as cosy and safe as this. They sat there, listening to Stevenson's classic until the fireplace was reduced to embers..._

* * *

"Here we are, miss"

Sass looked at the taxi driver with a start. Within 10 minutes, he pulled up outside a large wall near a giant set of metal gates. Above it were the words 'Domino High School'. Sass looked over the walls to see a very large building, with heaps of windows facing the front of the school. Inside each window she could see students laughing and talking to each other.

"Thank you" Sass handed a $20 note to the taxi driver, "I'm forever grateful"

"It is no problem, miss" the taxi driver watched her get out of the taxi with her two bags, his cheerful grin plastered on her face. When she closed the gate, the taxi immediately took off again, speeding down the road like a bullet. Sass rolled her eyes and headed towards the front gates. Taking a deep breath, she composed herself and headed inside.

Sass never thought that she would have so many pairs of eyes staring at her at once. Fashionista girls stopped and stared at her outrageous clothes, skater guys crashed into each other while looking at the 'new kid with the mad vest' (Sass heard one of them say that as she walked past), jocks stopped playing their game of football and began wolf-whistling at her. Sass stopped and narrowed her eyes at them, giving them her coldest, most piercing death stare. This made them stop immediately. Sass then continued up the path, ignoring the looks of everyone else, until she entered the large building in front of her.

The corridors were just as bad. People stood in little gangs, leaning against their lockers, and whispering about her as she walked past. Sass didn't care. She was used to the whispers and stares. After she reached the third floor, however, people began to act. Sass was halfway down a corridor when a jock boy, a kid with messy brown hair and built like an emo kid, walked up behind her and began to talk to her.

"Hello, my name's Greg" he smirked at her, his ego growing with each step, "if you allow me, I'll be your guide around the school and lots more"

Greg then slapped Sass' behind. Instinctively, Sass turned around and grabbed the boy's nether regions in an iron-tight vice grip so fast, the boy almost turned purple instantly. Sass looked at him blankly and spoke.

"Listen, Gregg, I don't appreciate getting treated like a piece of meat. This girl can kick your ass and remove you of your manhood so fast, you'll be screaming in a high pitched voice" Sass' voice gained an edge of warning as she looked down at the gasping boy, legs ready to give way, "Now, I'll be kind and reduce your chances of completely sterility if you can tell me where I can find Yugi Moto's classroom"

The boy spent a moment gasping before slowly pointing at a room three doors down from where they stood, "R... Room 5-0-9. M..Mr. Fredrick's c...class"

"Thank you. You've been very helpful" Sass smiled politely at him and released her iron-tight grip, letting the boy collapse on ground, covering his injured self.

Sass turned and walked away while his mates went over and helped him. Sass knew that what she did was cruel and painful, but she didn't care. Sass had to fight to survive in her world. She had to fight for respect and equality, as well as the right to be left alone. She always had to do this, she didn't know any other way. But all thoughts of her actions disappeared as she entered room 5-0-9.

The kids in the room where all chatting and gathered around tables. Girly girls chatted about the latest fashions in annoyingly high-pitched giggly voices. Nerds were sitting around a table at the front, talking about their latest science assignment and World of Warcraft. A group of metal heads sat at the back head banging to the music on their I-pods, which people could hear anywhere because they were turned up full blast. But everyone stopped and stared when she walked in the room. Only three people didn't seem to notice her.

Sass saw a boy with brown, neatly combed hair reading a novel in the middle of the room. His uniform was done up properly, not like a nerd but like a businessman. Sass then looked over at the other two people that hadn't noticed her entrance. A brown-haired girl with big blue eyes was in a pink top and a bright blue skirt with white stockings and black Grosby shoes and a spiky-haired boy were at a table playing Duel Monsters, too absorbed in the game to see her or noticed how quite the room had gotten. Sass instantly recognised the spiky-haired kid as Yugi. As she walked over, two boys approached them. One had messy blonde hair with big brown eyes. He was a wary person, Sass could see that, and was very loyal to Yugi and the brown-haired girl. The other boy was tall and lanky, with brown hair which pointed up in a strange looking cow lick. He wasn't as defensive as the blonde boy but he was still protective. The two boys walked over to the girl and Yugi and whispered to them, turning their heads to look at her. Yugi's eyes widened as he recognised Sass.

"Hey, Yugi" Sass smiled at him, "You left without saying goodbye"

"Yuge, do you know this girl?" the blonde boy asked. Sass detected a Brooklyn accent in his voice.

"Yeah, this is the girl that was being bullied by the hoods" Yugi got up and walked over to her, "What are you doing here?"

"Can't a girl come to thank their saviour?" Sass said, "Dude, if you hadn't shown up, I'd have been a goner"

Yugi smiled, "It was no problem, really. I just did what anyone did in a normal situtation. We haven't properly been introduced. My name's Yugi. Yugi Moto"

Yugi held out his hand which Sass gladly took, replying, "My name's Saskura. You can call me Sass for short"

Yugi lead her back to his trio of friends, announcing, "Hey guys, this is Saskura"

"Hey, Saskura" the brown haired girl smiled, "I'm Teá. Teá Gardener"

"Nice to meet you, Saskura" the brown haired boy held out his hand, which Sass shook, "My name's Tristan Taylor. My ugly friend here is Joey Wheeler"

"Watch it, Tristan" the blonde haired boy glared at him, "We don't want her to think you're the prettiest of the bunch"

"You wanna a knuckle sandwich for lunch, pal?" Tristan wrapped his arm around Joey, giving him a noogie while Joey struggled.

"Nah, thanks, I just ate" Joey reached his arm over Tristan's shoulder and twisted his arm off from around Joey's neck and holding it behind his back.

"Calm down, you two" Yugi laughed as he sat back down, "We don't want Fredrick coming in to discover a trashed classroom"

"Sorry, Yuge" the pair replied in unison before glancing at Sass. Joey was the first to ask, "Is that the school uniform?"

Sass nodded, "Yeah. Yugi's grandpa had some old clothes in the cupboard. I just made my own alterations. Sort of 'Sass-ified' it"

Tristan looked at her up and down, "And you don't care that it's supposed to be the guy's uniform?"

"Makes it better. Give me guy clothes over girly ones anyday" Sass replied, grinning.

"I'm beginning to like ya, Sass" Joey grinned back at her.

Sass turned and looked at Yugi and Teá's Duel Monsters game. Her eyes widened as she saw a card featuring the picture of a magician clad in purple with a long staff with an orb on the top. He had 2500 attack points and 2100 defence points.

"Is that the Dark Magician?" Sass gawked

"Yep" Yugi picked it up and looked at it happily, "My favourite card actually. You know anything about Duel Monsters?"

Sass scoffed. Know anything? That was an insult. Sass simply pulled out her deck and handed it to Yugi, her arms crossed smugly, "You check out my deck and you tell me"

Yugi shuffled through Sass' deck, looking thoroughly impressed, "This is a very good deck. There are heaps of powerful cards, some incredibly rare ones as well- Whoa!"

Sass watched with a smug and proud smirk as Yugi grabbed the Warrior Princess of Twilight from her deck. His mouth was ajar and he gazed at it longingly. Tristan and Joey were just as equally awestruck while Teá looked at them curiously.

"The Warrior Princess of Twilight?" Yugi finally said when he found his voice, "You are kidding me? There are only one of these in existence! How did you get it?"

"My father brought it back from a trip to Egypt when I was... younger" Sass chose her words carefully. She could say 'little' because she was only eleven at the time, it was only three years ago. Sass quickly switched topics, "It was around the same time I got this"

Sass held up her arm and revealed to Yugi her Millennium Bracelet. Joey, Teá and Tristan gazed dumbstruck from her Bracelet to Yugi, who held up his unusual necklace pendant in his hands. Sass noticed that her initial perception had been correct: it did look like an upside down pyramid. But Sass also noticed the same eye symbol on his pendant that was on her bracelet. Maybe they were from the same jewellery collection?

"Hey, Yuge, that's got the same eye thing as your Millennium Puzzle" Joey pointed out

"Whoa, that's freaky" Teá gasped

Sass nodded and then remembered how they had both glowed last night just before the fight, then remembered the other Yugi, the braver one, "Hey, Yugi, about last night- "

A yank on Sass' shoulder interrupted her. She was forced to turn around, seeing two angry older men. One was tall and skinny with greying hair in a crew cut while one, shorter and more portly looking, had glasses and black hair done up in a combover. Sass took one look at their pressed collared shirts with pens in the breast pockets and business pants and rolled her eyes.

_'Great, teachers' _Sass thought

The tall one spoke first, "How dare you come in here and disgrace the school uniform like that. You will get expelled for this"

Sass almost laughed at them, "Go ahead. It'll be pretty hard though. I don't even go here"

The short one sneered at her, grabbing her arm, "Fine. We'll get you arrested for trespassing"

'Great, Sass, way to go' Sass silently cursed herself, while she struggled against the arms of the two teachers, "Get off me! Let me go!"

"Sir, let her go, please!" Yugi begged her

"C'mon, sir, stop it!" Tristan said

"Get off her!" Joey snarled

"Yugi, help me!" Sass called out to her helpless friend. At that moment, all hope seemed lost...

"Let her go"

Everyone froze and turned. Sass saw the brown-haired business-like boy who had been reading the book before. He was now standing to full height, revealing his very tall domineering frame. He had big dark blue eyes, which glared coldly at the teachers. Sass stared at these eyes. They were full of so much greed and power lust and hate... this sort of ambition isn't born to someone. Something happened to this boy which made him who he is. He clenched his hands into fists and the teachers flinched.

"Sit back down in your seat, Mr. Kaiba" the tall teacher ordered

"Or what? You'll expel me? One of your most gifted students, and one of your biggest contributers?" Kaiba smirked at him, "Fat chance. Listen, I'll pay for this girl's enrolment here. Forget the uniform forever, forget this whole incident and you may just get a substantially large pay rise. All I ask is that you let her go"

The two teachers looked at each other for a moment, considering the propostion, before letting Sass go. Sass rubbed the blood back into her shoulders as the tall teacher turned to her, "What's your name?"

"Cassandra Blake. Please, though, call me Sass" Sass replied, the last part dripping with sarcasm. The two teachers then grudgingly left the room, leaving Yugi and the group staring at Sass and Kaiba in amazement. Sass and Kaiba looked at each other in complete silence for what felt like ages. Kaiba looked shocked with himself while Sass felt surprised. That's two people that have helped her in two days while she had spent a whole lifetime relying on just herself and maybe Bakura for help.

"Thanks" Sass replied when she finally found her voice.

"Don't mention it" Kaiba looked over Sass' shoulder to Yugi and his friends, "Anyone. Ever"

Yugi and his friends nodded and pretended to continue talking to each other while still secretly watching Sass and Kaiba. Sass watched Kaiba turned around and leave the room while Yugi and his friends hurried over.

"You OK, Sass?" Yugi asked, "Did they hurt you?"

"Nah" Sass was still watching the doorway, "Who was that?"

"Seto Kaiba. He's the own of KaibaCorp, the biggest game production company in the world" Yugi replied

"And the most technologically advanced" Teá added

"Yeah, I've heard rumours that KaibaCorp are actually developing a way to make the monsters in a Duel Monsters game come to life" Tristan exclaimed

"Ya dreamin'" Joey snorted

"I'm serious. Kaiba loves Duel Monsters. It only makes sense- " Tristan continued but Sass just tuned out. Her head was spinning with all these words. KaibaCorp? Gaming company? Seto Kaiba? It was making her head hurt.

"Sass? Sass?" Sass was brought back to reality by Yugi, who looked at her with concerned violet eyes, "You alright?"

"Yeah" Sass nodded, "Fine"

But at that moment, to Sass' displeasure, the two teachers from before came back in, heading straight for them. Joey and Tristan instinctively got into a fighting stance while Teá and Yugi both stood in front of her, defensively.

"Oh, God, you two again" Joey snapped, "Give her a rest, why don't ya?"

"You heard what Kaiba said. Leave her alone" Tristan added

"That's right" Teá agreed, "We aren't gonna let you anywhere near her"

"Guys, calm down. We don't know why they're here yet" Yugi told them, before adding quietly, "But if they are after Sass, we'll stop them"

Sass felt a warmth spreading in her heart. These guys only just met her and here they were, ready to risk life and expulsion, to protect her. The two teachers looked sheepishly from them to Sass, who they could only just see behind Yugi.

"Your enrolment and everything is set. Mr. Kaiba has agreed to pay for your tuition and everything you require for school" the tall teacher explained

"You have even been excused of your uniform. You may where it however you wish" the short teacher added grudgingly, "But I'm afraid you don't start until tomorrow, so I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to leave"

Sass nodded and put her hand on Yugi's shoulder, who went to say something but looked at Sass, "It's alright, Yugi. That's reasonable"

"OK, Sass" Yugi nodded to her, "See you soon"

"See you back at the game shop" Sass smiled, squeezing past Yugi and Teá to head for the door.

The teachers beckoned to her, but Sass ignored them, coming to a pause by Seto Kaiba's desk. He had left the novel he was reading closed on his desk. A dog-eared worn-out novel, Sass picked it up and read the title in her head.

'_**Le Fantôme de l'Opéra: The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux' **_Sass thought to herself. She had seen the musical numerous times and watched the 2005 movie twice as much. The closest proper translation of the original text she had even been able to get her hands on was a children's book that basically summarised the entire tale into 20 pages. Sass turned the book over in her hands. The corners of the spine were worn blunt and all the pages had signs of being folded in the corner, in order to mark the page. Clearly Kaiba either enjoyed this book or was very intrigued by it.

"Miss Blake?" Sass looked up at the impaitent teachers, who gestured to the door.

Clutching the book tightly, Sass hurried out of the classroom without another word. She hurried down the hallway, passed Greg and his friends (Greg jumped at the sight of her, into the arms of his best friend). Sass smirked at him before walking on. At the end of the corridor by the staircase, right next to the office door, was Seto Kaiba. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, eyes closed in deep thought. He gave the impression of being a cold, callous person but Sass stubbornly refused to believe that. This guy just basically got her a scholarship. He can't be entirely heartless. Slowly, Sass approached the pensive teenager and stopped in front of him. After a moment's consideration, Sass spoke first.

"Why did you do that back there?"

"You complaining?" Seto asked, a half-smile curling up on his lips

"No, but you don't look like the sort that would do something for nothing" Sass replied honestly, putting her free hand on her hip

Seto just shrugged his shoulder, still not opening his eyes, "I don't know. It just felt right"

Sass looked down at the book in her arm and held it out, "Hey, you left your book in the classroom"

Seto finally opened his eyes and looked at it. He widened his eyes and gently took the dog-earred novel from Sass' outstretched arm, looking at it fondly for a moment before remembering that Sass was still there, "Um, thank you"

"No problem. It's actually ironic. It was my brother's favourite book"

Sass froze at this comment. The world around her went quiet and everything else became obsolete. Bakura's favourite book was _The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde._ What she said should have been a lie. But in her heart, Sass knew that she wasn't lying. A feeling of excitement filled her up as realisation dawned on her in the form of a memory. Not a proper memory, more like a snippet of one: a person reading to her _The Phantom of the Opera _as she fell asleep in her bed. She couldn't remember the person's face, but she knew that he had been there and that he had existed. Her big brother. Her real brother.

Sass covered her mouth, trying not gasp out loud, while Seto continued to look at the book. Remembering herself, Sass shook her head and removed her hand from her mouth.

"Once again, Seto, thank you" Sass said, "I'll see you around"

"Yeah, see you around" Seto replied nonchalantly

While Seto re-opened the book to the page he was reading before he saved Sass' hide, Sass ran down the staircase so fast, she started leaping them three at a time. A memory! A time before Bakura and Papa! Sass felt like jumping in the air and shouting to the world. Her family did exist! There was someone for her! And she was going to find them...

* * *

**Whoa, that was a long chapter! But it was worth it. People rate and review me please! :)**

**Next Chapter: A Place to Belong**


	6. A Place To Belong

Thank you to all who have reviewed and/or read my story. Be paitent for updates. I'll be able to heaps during my holidays but during the rest of the year, it'll take longer (Blame my parents).

**What happened so far: **_After an eventful day at Domino High, Sass begins to develop a connection to Yugi, his friends and even cold-hearted Kaiba..._

* * *

**A Place To Belong**

"That was a fantastic game! I quite underestimated you, young Sass" Gramps complimented her as she pulled boiling hot water from the kettle into a small, fragile china cup.

Sass smiled politely at him while she stirred his tea. They had just spent most of the day playing game after game of Duel Monsters. Grandpa Moto was clearly the more experienced duelist, easily destroying against her Sir Lancelot Lionheart with a Graverobber's Retribution Trap card. However, Gramps spent the duels powering up one monster. But in the last one, it was his Gaia the Fierce Knight, allowing Sass to trap it with Swords of Revealing Light and unleash her Warrior Princess of Twilight's Ultimate Sword and Staff Strike, wiping out all of his life points. Grandpa collapsed into a comfy armchair beside the lounge while Sass made him some tea.

"How on Earth did you come across a card like the Warrior Princess of Twilight?" Gramps inquired, his eyes craving for knowledge.

"Well, my father is an archaeologist. A very busy archaeologist. Travels everywhere. Will be called to twenty different sites across four different continents before he can come home" Sass smiled, "When I was eleven, my father went on a trip to Egypt. He told me that he was going through the local market, just taking a stroll, when he saw the card out of the corner of his eye. He didn't know why, but he felt compelled to buy it and give it to me"

"How unusual" Gramps' eyes narrowed in deep thought as he scratched his beard, "Did the dealer tell him anything about the card?"

Sass thought about it as she brought the tea over to Gramps, "Actually, Papa said the dealer was very mysterious about it. The dealer told him that the Warrior Princess of Twilight was the guardian of the Never-To-Be Queen"

"How odd" Gramps commented, gently blowing the steam from the tea before taking a sip.

"I thought so too" Sass added as she sat down on the lounge. At that exact moment, Sass heard a click from out in the shop area and a jingle as the door opened. A stampede of footsteps followed along with a tirade of voices.

"Grandpa? Are you here?" a male voice called out

"Where's Sass? I'm likin' that kid" another male voice added, this one with a distinct Brooklyn accent

"Yeah, she seemed nice" a new voice chimed in, this one very female.

"Awww, you guys are gonna make me blush" Sass called out to them. The group suddenly barged in through the beaded doorway and headed straight for them. Tristan and Joey fought for a space on the floor in front of her while Yugi and Teá sat on either side of her.

"Move it or lose it, Tristan" Joey growled, pushing Tristan back

"Oh, you'll lose, big time" Tristan shoved Joey and got into the spot, smiling so sickingly sweetly at Sass, she began giggling uncontrollably. Her giggling turned into loud, full-blown laughter as Joey shot out of nowhere and tackled Tristan out of the way. Yugi and Teá covered their mouths to refrain from snickering as Gramps got up and separated the struggling teenagers.

"I would appreciate it if you two didn't start World War Three in my living room" Gramps shot warning looks at both of them.

"Sorry, Mr. Moto" the two boys looked at the ground sheepishly.

"Now, if you two behave and find a place to sit civilly, I will prepare for you guys some afternoon tea. How does pizza sound?" Gramps told them. If Sass had blinked, she wouldn't have seen it. One moment, Tristan and Joey were standing sheepishly next to Gramps. The next moment, they were in a cross-legged position in front of Sass, looking like absolute angels. Gramps smiled at them.

"Who likes what?" Gramps asked as he picked up the phone reciever from the bench.

"Vegetarian, thank you" Teá replied

"Hawaiian" Tristan's eyes glassed over

"And some good old supreme" Joey began to drool, "Ohhhhh"

"Yugi, Sass?" Gramps asked as he dialled the number of the local pizza parlour.

"Chicken and Cheese, thanks, Grandpa" Yugi replied

"Meatlovers for me" Sass smiled, "Hmmmm, meatlovers"

Gramps walked off and began talking into the phone while the subject of conversation turned immediately to Sass. Teá started this off.

"So, Sass, when did you get to Domino City?" Teá asked

"Yesterday afternoon. Flew in on the 11.00 flight" Sass replied

"With only two bags?" Tristan pointed at her duffle bag and her backpack, which were dumped at the side of the lounge.

Sass shrugged, "I didn't need to bring much"

"How long did you intend to stay here?" Tristan asked

Sass paused. She hadn't actually thought of that. She cursed her impulsiveness, "Really, I'm not sure. I just... packed up and left"

"What about your family? Where are they?" Joey inquired, a look of confusion evident on his face.

"Back home" Sass looked away from them, "In Sydney"

"Australia?" Joey gawked incredulously

"No, the Sydney in Africa" Tristan snapped at him.

Joey gave Tristan a pair of evils before looking back at Sass, "What I meant was that I thought Sass' accent sounded familiar"

Sass didn't reply. She just looked down at her hands. Yugi put her hand on her shoulder, "Sass, why are you in Domino City?"

Sass pretended she didn't hear him for a second. Could she trust them? She never really told people anything. It was always easier to keep them at arm's length instead of letting them get in involved and complicating things. Sass then looked around at their eyes. Two pairs of chocolate brown ones, one pair of bright aquamarine ones and one pair of innocent violet one. Every single one were eager to listen and to help. Taking a deep breath, Sass began.

"When I was ten years old, I was abandoned on the doorstep of Professor Johnathan Hirato Bakura and his son. I could only remember my first name and my age. Nothing else" Sass slowly began, the memories of that night flashing through her head, "They adopted me and cared for me. For four years, I was happy. Well, relatively"

"What do you mean, Sass?" Yugi asked, getting anxious as the story went along.

Sass attempted to describe how she felt, "No matter where I went or what we did as a family or how nicely they treated me, there was always a piece of me that yearned for something. It like I was missing something, but I wasn't sure what. Without it, I felt... incomplete. I felt... unfinished. I kept to myself a lot. The only person that I really opened up to was my brother and he was over in Eton most of the time"

"Ah, a private school good-doer" Joey crinkled his nose as Tristan punched his shoulder, "Hey, what the-"

"Shut up and let Sass finished the story" Tristan told him, "Go on, Sass"

Sass complied, "Anyway, my brother recently came home for the holidays again and one day I found his letters to his real little sister"

"What?" Teá looked confused

"Amane. She was six years old. She died two years before I came into their lives" Sass explained sadly, "She was riding her bike... she always rode too fast for my brother to keep up... she took a sharp turn and rode right out into the path of an oncoming truck..." Sass looked back down at her hands, "Poor Amane didn't even make it to the hospital. Even since, my brother has written letters to her in Heaven. One day, I found one. I didn't mean to read it, but I saw my name... it said something about a locket my brother had been hiding from me... I nearly torn his room apart looking for it... when I found it, I made him tell me about it. It had been found on me when I was abandoned, but it can't be opened"

"Why not?" Yugi asked

Sass pulled the locket out to full length on its chain and turned it over, showing them all the keyhole, "There was no key on me when I was found. I took a very long walk after that. Didn't come back until 9.00 that night. What if the locket is the key to my past? To all the questions I had been asking myself? That night, I packed my bags and left. I wrote them a note, but I didn't tell them where I was going"

Sass placed her head in her hands, sighing, "All I wanted was to find a place where I belonged. To find my family. I bet I sound so selfish"

"Not at all"

Sass looked up at Yugi, who smiled at her. She looked around at everyone else. They didn't show anger or pity or contempt. More like... sympathy. Teá patted Sass' shoulder as she spoke.

"It's only natural that people should feel the need to find whatever makes them happy, whether it's their family or a place to belong. I think your father and brother understand" Teá explained, "I mean, whenever my friends need me, my parents understand and let me stick with them"

"My dad don't care. He's busy entertaining his best friend Jack Daniels" Joey snorted

"My parents are fine with what I do. They trust me" Tristan replied, "They know I'm not stupid"

Joey snorted again, earning a punch from Tristan in the arm. Sass giggled and happened to glance upon the clock on the wall. It read 4 o'clock. Sass immediately stood up.

"It's getting late. I'd better go" Sass replied, "Thank you for everything"

Yugi looked at her, startled, "Where are you going?"

"Well, to find a place to sleep" Sass answered simply, "I'll see if the motel has any vacancies. If I not, I'll find a nice bench"

"A bench?" Tristan stood up immediately, "You're joking?"

Sass frowned, confused, "No. It's OK. When I'd go to the broken watertower near my house, I'd fall asleep in there all the time. I'll see you at school"

Sass turned to go and ran straight into Gramps, who was holding a pile of pizzas. He narrowed his eyes at her, "Like hell you are!"

They watched as Gramps put the pizzas on the bench before he turned to face Sass, arms crossed and looking livid.

"There is no way I'm going to let a teenage girl so far from home with barely any money to go out on the streets" Gramps shook his head at her, "You'll be staying here, with us?"

"What?" Sass and Yugi replied, Yugi from surprise, Sass from shock.

"But... I need to work..." Sass stuttered

"You can work here" Gramps replied simply, "I could always use an extra pair of hands and you have proven to me both an interest in Duel Monsters and a steely- eyed determination which will contribute to a high work- ethic"

"Huh?" Joey and Tristan looked at each other, puzzled

"It means she's a hard worker" Teá explained blandly, rolling her eyes

"Ohhhhhh" Joey and Tristan said in realisation before returning to the confrontation between Sass and Gramps. Sass seemed determined to prove Gramp's plan flawed.

"But... I can't sleep on the couch forever." Sass replied

Gramps eyed her uniform, "You don't seem to have a problem with boys. You can share Yugi's room. We have some spare mattresses up there gathering dust. You can use that until we can get you a real bed. You'll be alright, won't you, Yugi?"

Yugi's cheeks shimmered a gentle rosy pink, but it instantly vanished as Gramps eyed him and he looked again at Sass. He had actually forgotten Sass was a girl until Gramps had pointed it out, "It'll take some time to get used to but I don't have a problem with it"

Sass looked from one Moto to the next, looking slightly bewildered, "I don't want to be a burden..."

"Saskura, you are no burden to us" Gramps smiled at her, "You actually brighten the place up. We could use a little bit of a woman's touch around her, even one as tomboyish as yourself. Teá's not here everyday and you and Yugi have become pretty good friends. Any friend of Yugi's is alright with me"

"Friend?" Sass looked at Yugi, her heart daring to believe in the hope that it may be true.

Yugi nodded at her, "Friend"

The warmth Sass had felt in her chest earlier on when they had defended her against the teachers seemed to completely consume her whole body. She had never been accepted by anyone anywhere. These guys were now her friends: hothead Joey Wheeler, friendly Teá Wheeler, protective Tristan Taylor and sweet Yugi Moto. All of them cared for her and would be willing to stick by her in her crazy journey to find her family. Sass felt like she could have cried right there and then had not a certain aroma reached her nose as Gramps opened the cardboard cartons one by one on the bench.

"Pizza!" Sass, Tristan and Joey all drooled at once, staring at the freshly cooked pizzas steaming in front of them.

Gramps sniggered, "Tristan, you get the plates. Joey, upstairs in the cupboard is an old dining table sheet. Grab and spread it in front of the TV"

"Yes, sir" the two knuckleheads saluted Gramps before hurrying up to do their jobs. Sass suddenly remembered an old red dining sheet she had shoved in the second highest shelf to try and close the cupboard.

"Joey! Wait! Watch out! It'll-" Sass was interrupted by a crash and bang, with a 'What the-' added by Joey. Sass covered her mouth as Joey walked down the stairs, dining sheet around his shoulders and one of the old checkered sweaters on his head, "-pop out at you"

"Thanks for the warning" Joey snarled, throwing the sweater off his head and heading over to spread the sheet in front of Teá and Yugi, who were too covering their mouths to restrain from laughing at their friend's embarrassment. Tristan ignored the whole thing, placing the places in the centre of the spread out sheet while Sass and Gramps brought the pizzas over to them. Joey and Tristan looked ready to burst with anticipation.

"Before we settle down to eat-" Gramps began, causing groans to emit from Joey and Tristan, "I think Sass should choose a movie for us to watch"

Sass smiled at them and opened the cupboard under the TV, scanning through the collection of titles gathered there. She analysed them automatically as she scanned through them.

'_Sweeney Todd? No, no, we're eating. X-men? Nah, not really in the mood. CALAMITY JANE? Probably Gramps' movie. Hello...' _Sass reached her hand in and pulled out a movie. A horror one. Sass turned back at them.

"OK, who doesn't like blood and gore?" Sass asked

"Not me" Joey and Tristan replied, saying whatever so Sass will choose the movie and they can feast on the pizza.

"I can tolerate it" Yugi replied

"I usually fall asleep within the first five minutes anyway" Gramps replied, shrugging.

"Depends on the movie" Teá eyed Sass warily.

Sass held up the DVD in her hand, "_Bram Stoker's Dracula. _Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the king of blockbusters, and starring Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and the great Sir Anthony Hopkins"

"Awesome" Tristan and Joey nodded their heads. Sass knew they really didn't care.

"I love that movie" Teá sighed dramatically, clapping her hands together, "He spent all those years seeking his true love..."

Sass turned to Yugi. He didn't look like the type of guy that could stomach the kind of violence in that movie, "Yugi?"

Yugi smiled at her, "I'll be fine. Just put it on before Joey and Tristan start climbing the walls and go _Exorcist _on us"

Sass grinned at him and put the DVD in. As they sat back watching Mina and the Count's passionate (and violent) love story and gorging themselves on pizza, Sass glanced at them all. Tristan and Joey cheering at the particularly bloody parts between bear-like chunks of pizza. Teá rolled her eyes at the violence, sighed at Dracula and Mina's candle lit dance and pretended to hide her eyes at the sexual stuff, but Sass could see that she was peeking between her fingers. Gramps was snoring in his armchair, drooling on his shoulder. Yugi, however, surprised Sass. He just sat there, watching it in absolute quiet. There were glimpses of emotion on his face and in his eyes at certain parts but they vanished before Sass could analyse it properly. Then, to Sass' surprise, Yugi turned to her, smiled and whispered to her, "Why do you like this movie?"

"What about you?" Sass replied

Yugi looked back at the screen, "Dracula seems to have two sides. His evil, demented side and his tormented, tortured side. I can sort of relate to that"

Sass nodded, looking back at the screen while flashing back to last night, "I know what you mean"

Sass didn't ponder on the past for longer. She was enjoying the present too much. Everything felt right. There seemed to be almost nothing out of place. Life, at that moment, was good.

* * *

**He he, yes. The prelude to Duelist Kingdom is almost complete. Just a few more chapters to go. Review and that!!**

**Next Chapter: Early ****Morning Workouts**


	7. Early Morning Workouts

Thank you to all who have reviewed and/or read my story. Be paitent for updates. I'll be able to heaps during my holidays but during the rest of the year, it'll take longer (Blame my parents).

**What happened so far: **_Sass is now part of the Moto household, living under their roof and working in the shop part-time. She has now been living there for three months..._

* * *

**Early Morning Workouts**

Sass pushed the large glass case out of the doorway into the right front corner, next to the latest import of Classic Monster Cards. A new line of classic monsters most people cherished in Duel Monsters given extra abilities and giving shiny golden titles. After making sure the unit was in perfect position, Sass grabbed the Ajax spray and the blue cloth which she had left on the nearby bench and began her normal cleaning ritual. Giving the glass cases a good cleaning, making sure they shine each morning before the customers come in, then grabbing the broom from out the back and giving the floorboards a good sweeping. If she had time, she might do the front of the shop as well, but Sass also had to start breakfast and choose the cards for the front display. Who knew working in a card shop was hard work?

Sass grinned to herself as she wiped the front of the bench, making the case shine. But she wasn't just an employee here. She lived here now. She was part of the household. As part of the household, Sass gladly took upon herself responsibilities around the house. She set her watch for 5am each morning so it would vibrate and wake her up without waking up Yugi or Gramps. She then got the shop ready, putting all the units in place before her cleaning ritual and choosing the card display. Sass then starts breakfast and sets the table for the three of them. Sass thought of whether she should do pancakes and waffles or eggs and bacon this morning while she finished shining up the three glass benches and the four glass cases which at position in each corner of the shop. Finally deciding on pancakes and waffles, Sass put the worn out cloth and the spray on her newly cleaned bench and grabbed the broom which she had positioned against the main bench. She then began to sweep rapidly, pushing the dust particles caught in the broom's wrath out through the front door, which was propped open with a fold-up chair. Sass was vicious with her sweeping. She always liked to make sure she did a good job and didn't miss an inch of the shop floor. The thought of Gramps' satisfied and grateful face always kept her going even when she sometimes thought of skipping the sweeping to focus on breakfast. Gramps and Yugi had taken her in from the goodness of their hearts and Sass felt that she had to repay them, whether it was getting the shop ready or preparing breakfast. She was eternally thankful for the kindness that they had shown to her and wasn't about to take it for granted.

Finally, the sweeping was finished. Carefully, Sass unfolded the propped up chair and gently closed the door, trying to not jingle it. Once done, Sass positioned the chair behind the front counter where it belonged and took the cleaning materials back with her into the kitchen. Putting the cloth in the bin and the Ajax back where it belonged, Sass left the broom in the corner and turned on the hot plates before grabbing the frozen waffles from the fridge and the pancake mix from the cupboard.

"I wonder if we still got some maple syrup?" Sass wondered aloud as she put the waffles in the toaster and pushed it down, "Oh, maybe they'll like some strawberries will be nice?"

"Sure does sound nice"

Sass turned around to see Gramps standing at the bottom of the staircase in his silk green pyjamas, stretching. Sass smiled, "Careful, Gramps, we can't have you putting out your back"

"Oh, I'll be fine" Gramps hobbled over and peeked through the beads, "Oh, Sass, once again a superb job. But you really shouldn't have to get up at 5 every morning to do that"

Sass shook her head, "Then it's all left to you and you shouldn't have to spend your whole day cleaning"

"It only takes an hour. You always finish by 6" Gramps replied, "That's when I get awoken by the smell of breakfast"

"What woke you this time?" Sass replied, raising an eyebrow, "I only just put the waffles in"

"My bladder" Gramps replied as he relieved Sass of the pancake mix in her hand, "I'll handle breakfast. You go get ready for your workout"

Sass nodded as Gramps pushed her away from the kitchen before returning to cook the rest of the breakfast. They go through this every morning but it still makes no difference to Sass. These guys took her in when no one else would. There had to be a way of paying them back. Sass ducked into the bathroom, where her workout clothes laid on the towel rack: a sports singlet, track suit pants, a black hairband, white sneakers and masking tape (to wrap around her knuckles). She was quick to get dressed. After three months of the same routine, it became almost second nature to her. When she was done, Sass walked out into the corridor where she heard the rapping on the ground below.

"YUGI! GET UP!" Grandpa's voice bellowed from the kitchen

"ALRIGHT, I'M UP!" Yugi shouted back, stumbling out of their bedroom in a tired fashion, "Oh, morning, Sass"

"Morning, Yugi" Sass grinned at him, "You're early. Usually takes you a good ten minutes to get up after Grandpa shouts. What's the occasion?"

"The smell of the waffles" Yugi shuffled over to her, scratching his head, "You going for your workout first?"

"Nah. No point working out then going and eating what you just worked off" Sass reasoned while she headed downstairs with Yugi.

They appeared at the kitchen to see Gramps setting the dining table, waffles and pancakes at the ready with a large gravy boat full of maple syrup. Sass was pressed for time in her head and the aroma and taste of the breakfast made it all the easier to scoff down 3 waffles and 4 pancakes all soaked in maple syrup. Yugi smirked at the sight of Sass polishing off her plate.

"Sass, I know that you are a professional gorger, but seriously, calm down before you hurt yourself" Yugi laughed

"Sorry, but I'm pressed for time" Sass replied, "Gotta get my workout over and done with so I can get to school quicker. We're studying the Civil Rights Movement in Modern History and Mr. Baker ain't gonna be pleased if I turn up late to his class for the fifth time in a row"

Without further explanation, Sass pushed herself out of the chair and slipped out the back door. Yugi and Gramps shrugged and continued to savour their feast. Sass, however, headed down the back to the worn out red punching bag she had positioned at the corner of the house. Sass glanced at the Bracelet on her arm, glistening in the light of the rising sun. The workouts weren't just to help Sass stay in shape. Sass knew there was something, a presence, living inside her Bracelet. That increase in strength and power, the feeling of grace and confidence that flowed through her- Sass knew that it just wasn't her. She knew she was a confident person, but the levels that had flowed through her then were ridiculous. Sass wanted to know who or what was in the Bracelet, but everytime she tried to activate it, it was still mentally her. For the past three months, Sass had been trying to devise a way to 'separate' the presence from her and discovered that a feeling of disconnection seemed to appear when Sass became stressed or frustrated.

Sass positioned herself in front of the punching bag, clenching her hands into fists so tight her knuckles could be seen clearly under the masking tape. She shut her eyes and mentally became to compose her list of the five things in her life which have caused her the most frustration.

'5. I cannot see Bakura'

The punches came naturally to Sass. She lashed out at the punching bag with incredible force before round house kicking it into a spin. When the first wave was over, the next thought popped into her head.

'4. I still cannot open my locket'

The next wave was a little harder and more furious. It consisted of more kicks than punches. Her locket bounced against her collarbone as she beat against the bag, letting her frustration take over. A wave of disconnection seemed to overwhelm her, radiating from her Bracelet. As if encouraging her, the next thought appeared.

'3. I have only recovered one memory'

Sass' punches got more rapid with each blow. The image of the hidden boy reading to her momentarily slipped into her mind but she quickly pushed it away. The feeling of separation seemed to increase as her anger did.

'2. I am no closer to finding my family'

The ferocity of her kicks and punches began to build. Sass felt tears of anger building up in her eyes, but she continued to push them back. The Bracelet's emotion was now stronger than ever. Sass got angrier then, out of the fear that she will fail again like she had all the other times.

'1. I will fail at this attempt'

Sass inadvertently let out a shout of rage and punched the bag with such force, it came off the hook and rolled down the yard. Sass remained frozen as the bag rolled away. A icy cold feeling had overwhelmed her. The feeling of separation was mixture of pleasure and pain, all of it happening all at once. Sass clutched at her head, the feeling threatening to overwhelm her mind. But as suddenly as the pain happened, it stopped. Sass remained frozen, unsure of what this meant. What was going to happen? What did just happen?

"Hello? You can open your eyes, Saskura"

The voice was gentle and commanding. That wasn't the thing that worried Sass. The voice had sounded scarily similar to her own. It was a little deeper, a little older, but it sounded awfully similar. Sass carefully inched open her eyes, removing her hands from her head, and stared at the sight which she now beheld. At first, Sass thought she was looking in a mirror- literally. But Sass then noticed that she was transparent, not completely whole. Sass then found other differences: she was taller than her by about an inch or two and her features were gentle, like they had been kindly moulded there. She was dressed in the exact same attire as her and, unlike Sass, she seemed to make it look graceful. Sass remained intrigued, however, by her eyes. Large deep blue eyes exactly like hers except these were much older, claiming to have seen more than her youthful appearance would have allowed.

The girl crossed her arms, half-grinning at her, "I think the word you're looking for is 'Hello'"

Sass immediately fell out of her trance and crossed her arms. Whenever anyone made a smart ass remark to Sass, she immediately started feeling a little more comfortable, "Yeah, but usually I don't meet a ghost who has been living in my jewellery. Maybe I'll find the ghost of Davy Crockett when I open my locket"

The girl sniggered, uncrossing her arms, "Not unless it has the Millennium symbol on it"

"Millennium symbol?" Sass looked down at her Bracelet, "You mean the eye thing?"

The girl nodded. Sass shook her head and took a step back, "OK, I'm getting kinda wierded out here. I mean, you're, what, a ghost?"

"Spirit" The girl corrected her, "I didn't offically 'die'. I was trapped"

"Trapped? How?" Sass was curious. The half grin then slowly faded from the girl's face and she looked down, as if she was... ashamed?

"I do not really know" the girl sighed sadly, "My memories are clouded. I sometimes get glimpses and shadows. But most of it is black"

The empathy in Sass' heart rose, "You cannot remember... anything?"

"Well, that's not entirely true. I do know my name" The girl replied, looking up at her, "My name's Kira"

Sass uncrossed her arms, putting them to her sides, "Well, I see you already know my name. But, please, call me Sass"

"Will do" Kira nodded

"Just a little question. How did you know my name?" Sass inquired

"I am sort of, half of you" Kira shrugged, "It's tricky to explain. I'm part of you, Sass. What you knew when we bonded, I know. What you learnt since then, I learnt. You and I were like the one person but since it's your body, you had more dominance. All I was before today was a little conscience, a tiny voice nagging you and attempting to guide you. You are still in control, it is your body, but I now have some liberties"

"But now we are separated, you know can express yourself and not be just a conscience" Sass nodded, "But now that we are disconnected... are you still part of me? Part of my mind?"

"Of course" Kira replied, "The Bracelet has been connected to you for so long, if we separated completely, it would feel like we had lost a part of ourselves"

Sass glanced at the Bracelet, which shone again in the morning sun. She then looked back at Kira, "Can you remember much else?"

"Like I said, glimpses and shadows" Kira looked away, sighing, "There is one thing that intrigues me the most is the spirit connected to Yugi"

Sass did a double take, "So there is a presence within Yugi?"

Kira nodded, "You are smart and open-minded, you found a way to bring me out. However, Yugi is still completely unaware about the power of the Millennium Puzzle and it is up to him to find out"

"So I cannot tell him about any of this?" Sass crossed her arms again, "Well, if he don't believe me, he'd have me committed. Ah, well, won't be so bad. I can learn to master the Millennium Bracelet before he masters his Puzzle"

"Saskura!"

Sass turned to see Gramps poking his head out of the back door, "C'mon, you gotta go get changed now. Yugi's leaving in 20 minutes"

"Coming, Gramps!" Sass waited for Gramps to go back inside before turning to Kira, "He didn't see you"

"Only people connected in my mind can see me" Kira replied, "I think that's how it works anyway"

Sass snorted, "For a spirit, you not really all that 'all-knowing'"

"For a girl, you're not really all that 'girly'" Kira retorted

Sass rolled her eyes, "I gotta go. Maybe we can talk later"

"See you soon, Sass" Sass watched as Kira just faded from her eyes. The Millennium symbol flashed as Sass looked around her, not seeing Kira anywhere. Slowly, Sass retreated inside and slowly headed upstairs to the bedroom. She was completely aware of Kira watching after her in the dining room, leaning against the wall next to the staircase. This girl was vital to her mission, whatever it was, otherwise Kira would still be locked inside the Bracelet. Kira closed her eyes and became deep in thought. Now that she was 'freed', maybe she could focus on remembering the spiky-haired spirit which has been haunting her thoughts. What secrets did those crimson eyes conceal?

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Rate, review or do whatever you wanna do. Anywayz, now that you've met Kira, we can quickly move on with the story.**

**Next Chapter: The Exchange Student**


	8. The Exchange Student pt 1

Thank you to all who have reviewed and/or read my story. Be paitent for updates. I'll be able to heaps during my holidays but during the rest of the year, it'll take longer (Blame my parents).

**What happened so far: **_A month has past since Sass discovered Kira and has kept it secret from her friends. However, life takes a sharp turn one school morning..._

* * *

**The Exchange Student (Pt 1)**

"Hey, Sass" Joey waved at her and Yugi as they approached the front gate, "C'mon, the sub won't be happy if we come late to roll call again"

"Yeah, yeah, we're on our way" Sass called back as they finally reached Joey

"I still wonder if the sub's figured out your age yet, Sass" Yugi grinned.

Sass shook her head, "Dude, if they don't know I'm two years younger than everyone else by now, they'll never know"

Sass had skipped two grades up to the same grade as Yugi and Joey when she started at Domino. She breezed past everyone in the grade and the principal was forced to put her in Yugi, Joey, Teá and Tristan's class. Now that she was in a class where she was mentally challenged, Sass couldn't keep smart mouthing the teacher and disrupt the class. That was the real reason they moved her up in the first place. Sass grinned to herself as they headed up the corridor to their homeroom. Everything was perfect. Everything was how it should be.

They turned to go in the homeroom and Sass was startled to see that the sub was already there. However, it was the student that the sub was greeting that made Sass' heart leap into her throat. A boy around the same height as Teá dressed in the uniform in a prim, proper way with long purple white hair and big brown eyes. Sass quickly threw herself out of the room and backed up against the wall right next to the classroom door. Oh, God, he was here. Bakura.

Joey walked right in, not seeing Sass, but Yugi turned straight to her, confused, "Sass, are you OK?"

Sass was close to hyperventilating, "Yugi... I can't go in there"

"What? Why not?" Yugi raised an eyebrow.

Sass pulled her bandana out of her hair and tied it around her face, hiding all but her eyes, "Listen, according to you, I'm not here! I never was here! Meet me at the courtyard during lunch"

"Sass, what the-" Yugi didn't get his question out as Sass bolted down the hallway, leaving him staring after her.

Her feet hit the ground with clunks as she headed for the rooftop courtyard. She ducked behind lockers and pillars to avoid teachers patrolling the hallways and snuck up the staircases to the rooftop courtyard. Sass peeked around the door to see that no one was in the courtyard before heading out. Sass dumped her bag next to the fence, ripped her bandana off her face and threw it next to it. She began pacing back and forth in a furious manner. Why did he come? Why was he here? How did he know where she was? Aargh!

Sass lashed out and hit the wire fence. She laid into it, delivering punch after punch after punch until her knuckles were raw red. Sass could sense Kira leaning against the fence in her spirit form, watching her with her arms crossed.

"You do know that taking it out on the fence won't make him go away?" Kira inquired, raising an eyebrow

"It helps me feel better, emotionally" Sass replied as she continued to hit the fence

"Hmmm" Kira nodded, "How about physically?"

"Hurts like hell"

Sass turned and leaned back on the fence, clutching her knuckles, and slid down to the ground. She just sat there, muttering curses under her breathe as Kira sat down beside her, just watching her for a moment. Kira's deep blue eyes analysed Sass' nervous behaviour, intrigued by her reaction.

"They're obviously worried about you" Kira spoke, "They're still your family, Sass"

"If they were really worried, why didn't they come after me four months ago?" Sass snorted, crossing her arms around her knees, "Why didn't they follow me when I was being left on the streets and had nowhere to live?"

Kira shrugged, "They wouldn't be able to drop everything, you know. Your father's a bust archaeologist. Your brother would have had to go back to Eton and organise everything before leaving and coming here"

Sass' arms shook violently. Sass didn't know if it was from anger or fear or the cold, but she didn't care. Finally, she sighed, "They'll take me back to Australia. I don't want to go back. This place... I've never felt more at home here, more whole. After I met you and Yugi and the group, I've felt the happiest I've ever been. Hell, Seto Kaiba is paying for my education! I can't just walk out on it!"

"Maybe if you explain it to them, they'll understand" Kira stood up and look out at Domino City through the wire fence, "I don't want to leave this place either. My only link to my memory and past is here too"

"You mean, Yugi and his Puzzle?" Sass looked up at Kira. Her face was etched with a distant, pensive expression. Sass looked at those deep blue orbs which have intrigued Sass since they first met. They were glazed over in thought. She always had this look on her face whenever they discussed the Puzzle.

"Still have no clue what the spirit has to do with you yet?" Sass asked, maneouvring herself to face Kira properly.

Kira shook her head, closing her eyes, "I have limited memories, Sass, but I do remember being particularly close to the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. I just wish I could meet him as him. Maybe he remembers something about the past"

Sass looked out through the fence, watching the bustling Domino City with Kira, "I can't go back to class. Not for a while. Even if you possessed me, he'd still recognise me"

"Sass, the main reason he would recognise you is your hair. Not many people have topaz blue hair" Kira pointed out, "If you just hide it under a hat and wear sunglasses, you'd be fine. You could wear a wig if you want"

Sass thought about it carefully, "I could get a blonde. Bakura knows how much I hate that colour. I'd be fine"

"We can go shopping this afternoon" Kira sat back down next to Sass, smiling, "We can't really go back to class after Yugi just lied to the sub"

"But the look on Yugi's face would be priceless if we walked in right after he said how sick I was" Sass snickered

They both just laughed. Sass and Kira had been sharing moments like this increasingly over the past month. Sass now understood how Kira was half of her. Kira thought almost exactly like she did and guided her when she was troubled by a situation. The Millennium Bracelet glistened in the morning sun as Sass and Kira continued to discuss ways of getting priceless facial expressions off the group...

* * *

Sass and Kira were so absorbed in their conversation that Sass nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the school bell for lunch ring. Sass pulled her bag closer to her as Kira stood up, looking straight at the door leading to the rooftop courtyard.

"Brace yourself" Kira warned, "Goodbye"

Kira faded away, back into the Millennium Bracelet, as the door burst open. A stampede nearly broke down the door as the horde of teenagers stormed through, each trying to get to their reserved area of the courtyard before a rival clique gets it. Sass just sat the fence, watching the many heads rush past until she saw the spiky tri-coloured hair she was looking for. Yugi, Joey, Teá and Tristan edged through the crowd and hurried over to her. Yugi kneeled down in front of her, eyes wide with concern.

"Sass, are you OK?" Yugi asked

"Yeah, I'm fine" Sass replied, smiling nervously up at Yugi

"Yeah, Sass, what gives?" Tristan demanded as Joey and Teá walked up beside him.

Joey sat down next to Sass, "Yugi told us that you freaked the moment you came to class this morning and took off"

"Did you have a panic attack?" Teá's eyes widened in concern.

"C'mon, the sub's not much of a looker, but I didn't know it could cause this much damage" Tristan laughed, "I thought only Joey could do that"

"Watch it, Tristan. It wasn't me that made the librarian's baby cry when they said hello to it" Joey growled

"It was hungry" Tristan crossed his arms defensively

"Guys, you're getting a little off- subject here" Teá snapped at them, turning back to Sass, "This is about Sass"

"C'mon, Saskura. Spill" Yugi got into a comfortable sitting position, crossing his legs. Tristan and Teá each took a seat on either side of him.

Sass took in a deep breath before beginning, "Did you guys see a new student in homeroom? Around Teá's height, long purple hair, kinda a British accent?"

Joey laughed, "Oh, yeah. The new exchange student. Looked like a right nerd!"

What happened next shocked Joey out of his jovial mood. Sass leaped to her feet, her fists clenched and her eyes ablaze, glaring at Joey, "Don't you say one more wrong word against him or I'll tackle you to the ground and we'll fight a good ol' one-on-one, old school style"

Yugi grabbed Sass' arm quickly and held her back, "Sass, what has gotten into you?"

Sass realised what she had done and dropped her arms, sliding back to the ground again. She sighed and threw her head back, hitting the fence. It hurt like hell but Sass didn't care.

"I'm sorry, Joe. It's instinctive reaction. I didn't mean to" Sass shook her head, "Did you guys hear his name, the name of the exchange student?"

"Sure, his name was Ryou. Ryou Bakura" Teá replied, "The last name sounded familiar... Oh my God"

"And the penny drops" Sass muttered as Teá's eyes widened in shock, looking at her.

"What?" Yugi, Tristan and Joey looked at Teá with raised eyebrows. Teá began to shake almost gently.

"Bakura... that's what Sass called her brother" Teá's whisper was almost inaudible, "He's your brother, isn't he?"

Sass looked down and nodded. Joey and Tristan shouted, "What the-?" at the top of their lungs and glared at each other and her in shock. Sass looked up to see Yugi's reactiong and just saw him smiling sadly at her. His eyes just looked at her with deep understanding. Sass smiled back at him. Now she knew why she trusted Yugi far more than the other three. Yugi didn't assume or overreact. He was just understanding and calmly listening.

"Yes, Bakura's my brother, my adopted brother. I don't know how, but he knew where I was and came to find me" Sass' voice was barely a whisper but they all heard her crystal clear.

They didn't speak at all for about two minutes. They just soaked in the news.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Sorry it took so long to put up but have had a major case of writer's block. **

**Read/Review/Do what you do**


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